IHTTW'T 




FEB STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



I. LITTLE AND WISE; ok, Seemons to 

Children $1.25 

" Its lessons of wisdom are so charmingly interwoven with cap- 
tivating little stories that while the interest of the young reader 
never flags, the good seed is unconsciously received into the child- 
heart. There is no temptation to 'skip the stupid part,' for it is 
scarcely possible to say where the story ends and the sermonizing 
begins." — People and Pulpit. 

II. THE WICKET-GATE; ok, Sermons 

to Children $1.25 

" Every minister, every Sunday-school 'talker,' and every Sunday- 
school teacher should make this book a study, for the sake of its 
style." — Journal and Messenger. 

ni. THE INTEEPKETEKS HOUSE; 

ok, Sermons to Children . . . . $1.25 

" A boy of nine years, into whose hands the volume was put, read 
all of the discourses with eagerness, and a book which stands this 
test can safely be declared interesting and attractive." — S. S. World. 

IV. THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL . . . $1.25 



BY DR. RICHARD NEWTON. 
THE JEWEL CASE. 6 vols. . . $7.50 

The Best Things . . . $1.25 Bible Blessings . . . $1.25 

The King's Highway . . 1.25 The Great Pilot . . . 1.25 

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THE WONDER CASE. 6 vols. . . $7.50 

Bible Wondees . . . . $1.25 The Jewish Tabebnacle . $1.25 

Nature's Wondebs . . . 1.25 Rills fbom the Fountains 1.25 

Leaves feom Tree of Life 1.25 Giants, and Wonders . 1.25 



Rats from the Sun of Righteousness $1.25 

The King in His Beauty . 1.25 

Pebbles from the Brook 1.25 

Robert carter & brothers, 

New Yoke. 




AT THE ENTRANCE OF PALACE BEAUTIFUL. 

FRONTISPIECE. 



THE 



Palace Beautiful; 



OR, 



SERMONS TO CHILDREN, 



BY 



/ 



WM. WILBERFORCE NEWTON, 

AUTHOR OF "LITTLE AND WISE," "THE WICKET-GATE," AND "THE 
INTERPRETER'S HOUSE." 



' 






:ki.k>.}v 



New York: 

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 

530 Broadway. 

1 881. 



7r 



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4 A 



^ 



A 



r «E Library 

I of Congress 

WASHINGTON 



Copyright, i88r, 
By Robert Carter & Brothers. 



Cambridge: 

press of 

john wilson and son. 



ST. JOHNLAND 

STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, 

SUFFOLK CO., N. Y. 



PREFACE 



11 Thus he went on his way. But 
while he was bewailing his unhappy 
miscarriage, he lift up his eyes, and 
lo there was a very stately palace be- 
fore him, the name of which was Beau- 
tiful, and it stood by the highway-side. 

11 So I saw in my dream that he 
made haste and went forward, that if 
possible he might get lodging there. 77 
Pilgrim's Progress. 



CONTENTS 



1. Over Hill Difficulty 9 

2. The Palace Beautiful 31 

3. Tests 55 

4. Fast Driving 75 

5. Planting and Growing 101 

6. Starch 127 

7. Looking at the Clock 149 

8. The Meadow Path 173 

9. Small Beginnings 193 

10. Noah's Carpenters 217 

11. Mischief and Sorrow 239 

12. Early Planting 259 

13. The Beating Heart 285 

14. Broken Plans 303 

A STORY, 
Children Underground; A Dream of the 

Palace Beautiful 323 



tar Jill giffudig. 



OVER HILL DIFFICULTY. 

"To him that overcometh." — Rev. ii. 7. 

Qjl^VE very soon find out in life, that there 
^W^ is a Hill Difficulty in the way of 
almost every thing we undertake. Some 
people are said to be lucky, and to be fed 
with a silver spoon from the day of their 
birth. But it almost always happens, that 
those persons who are very successful, work 
for it, and earn their success by their toiL 

It is a very bad habit to fall into, when 
we get into the way of thinking that other 
people are lucky and we are unfortunate; 
or that other people have an easy time, 
while we have a hard time, of it. See how 
easily a steamboat's machinery seems to run! 
The walking-beam throws out its heavy shaft, 
as if it were a boy playing with Indian clubs, 



12 The Palace Beautiful. 

and the boat skims along through the water, 
as if it was all play. Yet think how much 
work is done down below the deck, where 
we do not see the wheels and the furnaces. 
The engine does its work beautifully, only 
it does not talk about it; it works with so 
much ease that the work seems play. 

Now God puts a Hill Difficulty in our way 
in life, on purpose to make us strong in over- 
coming it. 

Some time ago I watched the Harvard 
College boat crew, practicing at the great 
gymnasium at Cambridge. These men were 
stripped, and were pulling weights, and row- 
ing with bars and exercising all their mus- 
cles, so as to be ready for the grand regatta 
when it should come off, six months from 
that time. They could not expect to win 
in the race, if they did not prepare for it 
beforehand. It was the hardness, the diffi- 
culty of the exercise, which made them 
strong for the day of contest. 

A baby trying to walk, finds it very diffi- 
cult. He toddles along from chair to chair; 



Over Hill Difficulty. 13 

yet it is the difficulty of the exercise which 
brings his powers out, and makes his little 
legs strong. Boys, at first, find it hard work 
to swim without corks; yet we will never 
have strength, unless sometime we strike 
out for ourselves, and get power out of the 
difficulty there is in swimming alone. We 
never will succeed in any thing in life, if 
we think we are unfortunate, and others 
are lucky. We never will succeed, if we 
think we can be successful without putting 
forth all our efforts. 

Over every success in life, is written those 
words which were written over the gate of 
heaven, as the promises of reward were 
given to those who were in earnest, and 
were struggling against sin — 

"To Him that Overcometh." 

In the story of "Pilgrim's Progress," from 
which these books take their name, we find 
that after Christian left the Interpreter's 
House, he came along a highway, which 
was fenced in on either side with a high 



14 The Palace Beautiful. 

wall, whose name was Salvation. Along 
this way he went until he saw a cross, 
standing before him. As he stood and looked 
at it, he felt the heavy burden on his shoul- 
ders gradually giving way, and in a few mo- 
ments more it fell off, and rolled down a sep- 
ulchre, and he saw it no more. This made 
Christian very happy. Now he thought, it 
would be an easy thing to go the rest of 
his journey towards the Celestial City. 

After this he met three angels. The first 
said to him, " Peace be to thee;" the second 
stripped him of his rags, and clothed him 
with a change of raiment; and the third set 
a mark upon his forehead, and gave him a 
roll with a seal upon it, which he was to 
give up at the gate of heaven. Then he 
came across three men asleep. Their names 
were Simple, Sloth, and Presumption. Chris- 
tian tried to wake them up, but they were 
very sleepy, and wanted to be left alone. 

Just then he espied two men, who came 
tumbling over the wall. The name of one 
of them was Formalist, and the other's name 



Over Hill Difficulty. 15 

was Hypocrisy. They told Christian they 
were born in the land of Vain Glory, but 
were going for praise to Mount Zion. They 
did not enter the path by the Wicket Gate, 
and knew nothing about the Interpreter's 
House. They were making a short cut across 
the fields, and thought that Christian was 
taking a very long and tedious journey to 
the Celestial City. 

The next thing that Christian came to, 
in his pilgrimage, was the Hill Difficulty. 
There it stood, right in his way — very steep 
and high. There were two roads around 
the hill. One of these was named Danger, 
and the other was called Destruction. It 
was much easier to take these roads that 
went round the Hill, than to climb over the 
hill itself. So one of the men took the way 
which was called Danger, which led him 
into a great wood, and the other took the 
road marked Destruction, which led him 
into a dark mountain path, where he stum- 
bled and fell, and rose no more. But Chris- 
tian began to climb straight up the hard, 



16 The Palace Beautiful. 

high hill. It was like going up some steep 
mountain-side, over great uneven rocks. At 
times he had to clamber on his hands 
and knees, because of the steepness of the 
place. 

Half way up the hill there was an arbor, 
made by the Lord of the Hill, for the refresh- 
ment of the weary travellers. Christian was 
very glad to rest. Soon he fell asleep. Sud- 
denly he heard, or thought he heard, some 
one saying to him, "Go to the ant, thou 
sluggard; consider her ways and be wise." 
Thereupon he awoke, and hurried on until 
he came to the top of the Hill, where he 
met two men running down, who told him 
about the lions they had met in the path that 
led to the Palace Beautiful. This alarmed 
Christian very much, and he began to feel 
for the roll in his bosom, to see what he 
should do. But it was gone. He had lost 
it — and the angel who gave it to him said 
he must hand it in as he entered the gate 
of the Celestial City. This greatly distressed 
poor Christian, until all at once he bethought 




CLIMBING THE HILL OF DIFFICULTY. 
Palace Beautiful. 



Over Hill Difficulty. 17 

him of his sleep in the arbor. Then he hur- 
ried back to the arbor, where he found the 
lost parchment, and after this he went on 
his way — up the Hill-side, until in the dis- 
tance he saw the dome of the Palace Beau- 
tiful, hidden among the trees. 

Now, my dear children, this is a beautiful 
story. And it means just this — God has 
planned out the way we are to walk in, in 
his service. We start right at the Wicket 
Gate; we are taught by the Spirit of God, 
the Interpreter; our sins fall off from our 
souls, when we pray to God to forgive us 
for the sake of Jesus Christ, as we stand at 
the foot of his cross ; the roll given to us is 
the Bible; the mark on the forehead, is the 
sign that we are Christ's servants ; the short 
cuts in the Christian life, lead us into dan- 
ger and death; Hill Difficulty is the exer- 
cise which is given to us to make us strong 
in God's service; and the Palace Beautiful 
is the Christian Church, where we are taught 
and equipped for the battle with sin. 

This is what the allegory or parable of 



18 The Palace Beautiful. 

"Pilgrim's Progress" means — as far as we 
have gone in the story. 

Between the Interpreters House — that is 
the teachings of God's Spirit — and the Pal- 
ace Beautiful — that is the Christian Church 
— there looms up this Hill Difficulty in our 
path, to test our strength and prove us. 

St. Paul says in one place, "We must 
through much tribulation enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." And we often sing 
in the hymn — 

"Must I be carried to the skies 
On flowery beds of ease, 
While others fought to win the prize 
And sailed through bloody seas?" 

In other words, my dear children, if we 
want to win heaven, we must not think 
there are lucky ones who are carried there, 
while we ourselves have a hard time, with 
nothing but trouble. The way from the In- 
terpreter's House to the Palace Beautiful is, 
always, 

"©for mil ©ttScultg." 



Over Hill Difficulty. 19 

The crown is given, not to him who folds 
his hands: not to him who envies others. 
It is given "to him that overcometh." 

When tourists come up from Italy into 
France or Switzerland, there is one celebra- 
ted mountain-pass known as Mount Cenis. 
People can ride around it, or they can drive 
over it, or go through it by the famous tun- 
nel. The party I was in went over it in 
sledges, for it was January. We were all 
one cold moonlight night getting to the top 
of the pass, up zigzag roads and over great 
snow-drifts. There was no tunnel then. At 
two o'clock in the morning we began to go 
down the mountain, and the day after, we 
met the people who had gone round the 
mountain's side. 

Well, my dear children, we can do with 
our Hill Difficulties in life just what the 
tourists from Italy do with Mount Cenis. 
We can get around them; or we can go 
through them; or we can climb over them. 

Every boy in school knows some of the 



20 The Palace Beautiful. 

Hill Difficulties in his way. For instance, 
there is the account of Caesars bridge, in 
Latin. How hard it is! And how hard 
Homer is, in Greek, after one has been study- 
ing the easy Xenophon's Anabasis. And 
then there is that famous problem in ge- 
ometry known as the "pons asinorum.' , It 
is called the bridge of fools. The wise ones 
get over it, but the others are kept back. 

There was a boy in college once, who 
never could recite his mathematics. But he 
was not the only boy in the world who had 
this failing. There are a great many like 
him, in every college. When the professor 
would give him a problem to do on the 
board, he would begin and draw circles and 
curves and angles. Then he would number 
them — A, B, C, etc. After this he would 
go off and look at what he had done, and 
would wipe all his work out and begin 
again. Then it generally happened, that be- 
fore he was ready to recite, after wiping out 
his work three or four times, the bell would 
ring, and the hour would be over. Now that 



Over Hill Difficulty. 21 

boy iKjver knew one bit of his problems. He 
couldn't begin to do them, so he took that 
way of getting around his Hill Difficulty, — his 
geometry lesson. He would make a great 
ado with the chalk and brush, and then trust 
to the janitor's bell to settle his difficulties. 

There was a brave, strong, self-reliant boy 
once, who made up his mind to study for 
the ministry. His father was very much 
opposed to this. He wanted to keep him 
in his store. "Eichard's a fine lad," he used 
to say, "and he will make his mark." But 
Eichard's heart was in preaching. He felt 
that God had called him to his service — and 
he wanted to obey the call. His father was 
very angry at his decision, and said that he 
must support himself. So Eichard began to 
teach, and to labor in every way to get money 
enough to pay for his education. 

One night, in his little room, he was study- 
ing very carefully, his geometry. His brother 
Henry, who was a boy in a store, watched 
him for a long time, and then said to him, 

" Eichard, it seems to me that you are 



22 The Palace Beautiful. 

spending a great deal of time over, unnec- 
essary studies. Why is it necessary for 
you to go to college and learn all those 
hard lessons? I can't for my life see what 
studying those difficult problems in geome- 
try, has to do with preaching the gospel." 

The boys were in the same Bible-class in 
Sunday school, and Henry thought that it 
must be a very easy thing to get up and 
preach — it was only like talking. 

Eichard thought a few moments and then 
said, 

"I'll tell you, Henry, how it is that study- 
ing geometry has to do with preaching the 
gospel. The strength which comes to my 
mind, after mastering these problems, will 
be strength that will help me to think when 
I come to study theology. It is not tohat 
I am learning, that is going to help me 
preach the gospel. It is the strength of 
mind I am acquiring, by getting over these 
problems, which will help me in preaching." 

Now this is the great reason why our 
Hill Difficulties in life, are given to us from 



Over Hill Difficulty. 23 

God. We find them in the Christian life, 
just as we find them in our daily lives. 
Christian thought it was going to be all 
easy work, when his burden fell off his 
back. But right between the Interpreter's 
House and the Palace Beautiful, there the 
great Hill loomed up. The boy who got 
round his geometry lesson, never got any 
good out of it; it gave him no strength of 
mind, no exercise of his reason. That boy 
would in all probability, go on all his life try- 
ing to get around his difficulties, and finding 
no strength coming to him by conquering. 
But the other boy who went over his Hill 
Difficulty, and mastered his lessons, became 
one of the most successful ministers of God 
in our land. For the reward is not given 
to him who gets around his difficulties. For- 
malist and Hypocrisy found this out, when 
they took the roads Danger and Destruction 
around the side of Hill Difficulty. The re- 
ward is always given 

"To Hdi that Overcometh." 



24 The Palace Beautiful. 

Now then, let me tell you what we are 
to do, when we come to our Hill Difficulties. 
And in order to find out what we are to 
do when we come to these hard places, 
we must know how these difficulties have 
arisen. And this brings us to the heart of 
our subject. 

There are two sets of difficulties in the 
world. 

I. 

First, there are those difficulties ivhich God 
gives us. God might have made it per- 
fectly easy for us to live, without having 
to eat, sleep, or drink. He might have 
made us, so that there would have been no 
necessity for us to work and toil for our 
living. He might have made it very easy 
for us to do right, and very difficult for us 
to do wrong. But we soon find out that 
it is an up-hill world, and that if we stop 
striving, or let ourselves run down hill, we 
will be ruined. 

But, my dear children, this up-hill w r orld 



Over Hill Difficulty. 25 

has not come by chance or accident. There 
must be a reason for it all. Just as the 
mountain climb, or the pull at the health 
lift, or the hour spent at the gymnasium, 
makes our muscles stronger, and our blood 
purer, and our health better, for all this 
exercise, so God has given us in this world, 
in our bodily life, in our studies and in our 
efforts after holiness of character — difficulties 
in the way, on purpose to try us, and bring 
out our strength. 

And so it comes to pass that we must 
work, in order to get our living; we must 
separate ourselves from our companions and 
from our pleasures, in order to study; and 
we must keep a curb-bit on our passions, 
if we want to have that holiness, without 
which no man shall see the Lord. 

There is a toy store in Boston, at the cor- 
ner of Charles and Mt. Vernon Streets, which 
has a window with penny toys in it. The chil- 
dren love to look in and see all the many 
toys there, only a cent apiece. A little boy 
was looking in there the other day. He 



26 The Palace Beautiful. 

wanted a whistle, and then when he came 
out of the store he was crying, because the 
man took his penny. 

I asked him why he was crying. 

"'Cause the man took my penny." 

"But he gave you the whistle?" I said. 

"Yes," said the little fellow, "he gave me 
the whistle, hut I want my penny too" 

Now, my dear children, this is not a world 
where we can have the whistle and the pen- 
ny too. We must choose one or the other; 
and if we want the whistle we must pay 
for it. If we want health, if we want study, 
if we want fame, if we want wealth — we 
must pay for them. They are all to be 
found " over Hill Difficulty." Remember 
this first lesson — 

Those difficulties which God puts in our 
way ive must ham to master. 

II. 

Secondly, there are those difficulties which 
we give ourselves. These come from our own 
mistakes and errors, our prejudices and wrong 



Over Hill Difficulty. 27 

impressions. Many people make their own 
difficulties, all along their pathway of life. 
They think other people are disagreeable and 
unpleasant, when all the time it is their own 
jealousy. They think other people have been 
unkind to them, and have hurt their feelings, 
while it is only their own spirits which are 
so tender, that they have imagined all these 
things. There are people who, if they could 
only see it, would find out that they make 
their own troubles, and it is not, that people 
do not understand them, or that they are 
peculiarly unfortunate. 

Sometimes when we are children, it is said 
of us, "Tom," or "Mary," "got out of bed 
on the left hand side to-day ; everything has 
gone wrong." 

And there are some people who take every- 
thing in a left-handed way. Nothing is right 
to them. They can not see any thing but 
difficulties, piled along their way. 

There was a very unpopular man in a 
certain town. He did all sorts of unkind 
things, and said bitter words against every 



28 The Palace Beautiful. 

body. One day his minister was talking 
with him — 

"Now, my friend," said the minister, "does 
it not trouble you, to think how "unpopular 
you are here in the town, with every body 
talking against you ? " 

"Oh no," said the old sinner. "I like to 
be despised; for does not the Bible say, 
'Blessed are ye when men shall revile you 
and persecute you, and shall say all manner 
of evil against you ? ' So you see I fall back 
on the promises." 

"But go on," said his minister, "with your 
verse." 

"I don't know any more," was the reply. 

"Blessed are ye when men shall say all 
manner of evil against you falsely, for my 
sake. You see what they say about you is 
true," continued the minister, " and they say 
it for your own sake; they don't say it for 
Christ's sake." 

This man was making all his own trou- 
bles, and then was hiding behind the 
word of God as a defence. His Hill Dif 



Over Hill Difficulty. 29 

ficulty was not from God, but was from 
himself. 

Now those difficulties which we put in 
our own way, we must level down to the 
ground. You know how it is when the civil 
engineers are building a railroad. The val- 
leys are filled up, and the hills are cut down, 
and every thing is reduced to a level way. 
That verse from the fortieth chapter, of 
Isaiah, which is a prophecy of the way in 
which the highway was to be made for the 
glory of God's coming, always seems to me 
like the description of the building of the 
iron way of a railroad — 

" Every valley shall be exalted, and every 
mountain and hill shall be made low; and 
the crooked shall be made straight, and the 
rough places plain." 

Well, this is the way we must do with the 
difficulties we make for ourselves. We must 
dig down our big fears, and fill up our hol- 
low wants, and make our lives even and 
straight and plain. 



30 The Palace Beautiful. 

Eemember then, my dear children, these 
lessons to-day. 

We must find this Hill Difficulty some- 
where in our path in life. 

We may go around it, or we may go over 
it. But it is always better to go over it. 

The difficulties God gives us we must 
learn to master. The difficulties we make 
for ourselves we must learn to reduce, as 
they do when they cut down the hills on a 
railroad. And remember, that the reward 
is given to him who tries hard to get over 
Hill Difficulty. The promise is 

"To Him that Overcometh." 



II 



Cju palate ^ea«tif»I. 




THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL. 

"The Beautiful gate of the temple."— Acts iii. 10. 

HEN the apostles Peter and John went 
through the old familiar streets of 
Jerusalem, and up the well known steps 
of the temple, after our Lord's ascension, 
they must have felt very lonely, as they 
looked upon all the places they had so late- 
ly seen, in the company of Jesus. Every 
thing must have reminded them of their 
absent Lord. There was the famous porch, 
"Solomon's porch," where they had so often 
heard him teach. There were the costly 
stones of which he had spoken. There was 
the carved tracery work of the rich clusters 
of grapes, along the corridors, which Je- 
sus had used as an illustration, when they 



34 The Palace Beautiful. 

walked together for the last time, from the 
passover feast to the garden of Gethsemane, 
when he said, "I am the Vine, ye are the 
branches." 

It was in all probability near the entrance 
to the temple that our Lord had met the 
returning group of happy mothers and play- 
ful little children, when he said, " Suffer the 
little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven." 

All these memories must have been in the 
minds of the apostles Peter and John, as 
they went up into the temple, when after 
the day of Pentecost, with the help of the 
Spirit of God, in the presence of all the 
people, and in that very spot where their 
Master used to do wonders, they performed 
their first miracle. 

There the poor lame man lay, crying out 
for help, and piteously begging for money, 
at the great gate which King Herod had 
built, and which was the wonder and pride 
of the devout Jews. But the crowds went 



The Palace Beautiful. 35 

on their way, through the gate and up the 
steps, without thinking any thing about the 
poor lame beggar. 

I suppose this poor lame man took his 
place by the Beautiful gate of the temple, 
because it was the gateway, through which 
the greater portion of the people passed. 
Then when Peter and John saw him, they 
took compassion on him, and in the name 
of their Master commanded him to stand 
up on his feet. And he who had been 
lame from his birth, and had never known 
how it felt to stand upon his feet and walk, 
went bounding up the steps, like a boy let 
loose from school — "walking and leaping 
and praising God." 

This Beautiful gate of the temple had 
been built by King Herod when, to please 
the Jews, he restored the old temple of 
their fathers. Solomon's had been the ear- 
liest temple of the Jews. This building had 
been destroyed at the time of the captivity. 
Then when the captives came back again 
from Babylon, Zerubbabel, their leader, re- 



36 The Palace Beautiful. 

stored the temple, and tills lasted until 
King Herod, to please the Jews, built the 
last temple the Jewish nation ever had; 
that building known as Herod's Temple, 
which was finally destroyed in the terrible 
destruction of Jerusalem by the Eomans 
under Titus, in the year a. d. 70. 

In this wonderful temple, there were the 
inner and the outer courts, Solomon's porch, 
the bridges and gateways, and the nar- 
row steps of the great marble stairway. 
There were balconies and cloister ways, 
with carved Corinthian columns, and deli- 
cate tracery work. But one of the most 
beautiful portions of this great temple, whith- 
er the tribes continually went up, was that 
carved gateway — which, because every one 
admired it so much, was called " The Beauti- 
ful gate of the temple" 

A beautiful approach to a great building, 
always makes it more attractive. The fa- 
mous cathedral of St. Peter's, at Eome, has 
two great porticos running out in the form 
of a semi-circle, from each side of the build- 



The Palace Beautiful. 37 

ing. In this way the effect is very impo- 
sing, as one stands at the entrance to the 
open place, in front of that majestic edifice. 
If we are approaching a city, or a church, 
or a castle in Europe, or a country place in 
America, it is a very important thing that 
our first impressions of a place, should be 
pleasant ones. We all know how this is 
when we go to a new school, or to a new 
house where we are to live, or to some 
place in the country, where we are to spend 
the summer. 

I knew a boy once, who was very anx- 
ious to go to Stonington, Connecticut, to 
spend the summer. He thought it would 
be a very pleasant place, because there 
were so many boats there, and he would 
have good times on the water. So at last 
his father took him there. They went by 
the Sound steamer "Plymouth Eock." The 
next day, however, when they arrived, it 
was raining. Gilbert didn't like the looks 
of Stonington. He did not like the boys 
he saw there. He did not like the boarding 



38 The Palace Beautiful. 

place. He thought Stonington was " horrid " 
and begged his father, with tears in his eyes, 
to give him five dollars and let him go back 
again to New York. Stonington in the rain 
and wet did not have any " Beautiful gate " 
for Gilbert. The approach to his summer 
vacation was not a pleasant one, and it did 
not make his vacation days look attractive. 

Sometimes we receive very pleasant im- 
pressions of houses, when we call and ring 
the bell. At other times we receive rude 
and impolite treatment at the threshold, 
— and this causes us to carry away un- 
pleasant impressions of the place. A great 
deal depends, after all, my dear children, 
upon our first impressions; upon the char- 
acter of the approach to a place. 

The Jewish temple was a splendid build- 
ing; but after all the "Beautiful gate of 
the temple," the beautiful entrance, making 
the approach so fine and the first impres- 
sions so pleasant, had a great deal to do 
with the effect of it all. 

And this brings us to our subject to- 



The Palace Beautiful. 39 

day. After Hill Difficulty in the " Pilgrim's 
Progress " comes the Palace Beautiful. After 
Christian had found his roll again, which he 
had lost, while asleep in the arbor, he came 
to the highway, where in the distance he saw 
the dome of the Palace Beautiful. Here he 
knew he would find rest and sympathy and 
comfort. But then he was terribly afraid 
about the lions in the path. Mistrust and 
Timorous had been driven back by fear of 
them, and now what was poor Christian to 
do? 

" Before he had gone far, he entered into a 
very narrow passage, which was about a fur- 
long off the Porter s lodge, and looking very 
narrowly before him as he went, he espied 
two lions in the way. Now, thought he, I see 
the danger that Mistrust and Timorous were 
driven back by. (The lions were chained, 
but he saw not the chains.) Then he was 
afraid, and thought also himself to go back 
after them, for he thought nothing but death 
was before him : but the Porter at the lodge, 
whose name is Watchful, perceiving that 



40 The Palace Beautiful. 

Christian made a halt, as if he would go 
back, cried unto him, saying, 

" ' Is thy strength so small ? Fear not the 
lions, for they are chained, and are placed 
there for trial of faith, where it is, and for 
discovery of those that have none: keep in 
the midst of the path, and no hurt shall 
come unto thee.' 

"Then I saw that he went on trembling for 
fear of the lions; but, taking good heed to 
the direction of the Porter, he heard them 
roar, but they did him no harm. Then he 
clapped his hands, and went on till he came 
and stood before the gate where the Porter 
was. Then said Christian to the Porter, 
" ' Sir, what house is this ? And may I 
lodge here to-night?' 

"The Porter answered, 'This house was 
built by the Lord of the Hill; and he built 
it for the relief and security of Pilgrims?' 
The Porter also asked, whence he was, and 
whither he was going." 

Then after Christian had told his story, 

"Watchful the Porter rang a bell; at the 




THE LIONS. 



Palace Beautiful. 



The Palace Beautiful. 41 

sound of which came out of the door of the 
house a grave and beautiful damsel, named 

Discretion At last she asked 

his name. So he said, 'It is Christian; and 
I have so much the more a desire to lodge 
here to-night, because, by what I perceive, 
this place was built by the Lord of the Hill, 
for the relief and security of Pilgrims.' So 
she smiled ; but the water stood in her eyes ; 
and, after a little pause, she said, ' I will call 
forth two or three more of my family.' 

" So she ran to the door, and called out 
Prudence, Piety, and Charity; who, after a 
little more discourse with him, had him into 
the family; and many of them, meeting him 
at the threshold of the house, said, 'Come in, 
thou blessed of the Lord; this house was 
built by the Lord of the Hill, on purpose to 
entertain such Pilgrims in.' Then he bowed 
his head, and followed them into the house. 

. . . Then they appointed Piety, and 
Prudence, and Chanty to discourse with 
him." 

Now, my dear children, this story of Pal- 



42 The Palace Beautiful. 

ace Beautiful in "Pilgrim's Progress" means 
the Christian Church. The Wicket Gate was 
the beginning of the Christian life; it was 
Christian opening the latch at the journey's 
start. The Interpreter's House was the place 
where he was instructed by the Spirit of God. 
Hill Difficulty was the first great trouble 
Christian met, after God by his Spirit had 
given him new strength for his pilgrimage. 
And the Palace Beautiful, where he was tak- 
en in and welcomed, and was furnished with 
strong armor, for the encounters he would 
meet on the way, stands for the Christian 
Church, where we are taught and strength- 
ened by the companionship of our fellow 
Christians, and receive that armor for our 
warfare, which comes from all the means 
of grace and Christian helps, which the 
word of God and the Church of God can 
give us. 

But the approach to the Palace Beauti- 
ful was a trying one. There were lions in 
the way, and it seemed a very difficult 
thing to get there. Christian was afraid, 



The Palace Beautiful. 43 

and was thinking after all of following 
the example of Timorous and Mistrust, who 
ran all the way back again to the City of 
Destruction. This was because Christian had 
left it late in life, before he began to set 
out for the Celestial City. And then, too, 
in the time when John Bunyan wrote, there 
were a great many trials in the way of those 
who were faithful to their conscience, and 
entered the Church. It was an age of per- 
secution like that of the apostles. Bunyan 
himself, was shut up for twelve years in 
Bedford jail, because of the conflict of re- 
ligious opinions which was going on at 
his time. He would not conform to the 
existing religious authorities, and so he was 
imprisoned in the common jail, where he 
wrote the greater portion of his " Pilgrim's 
Progress." 

And for these reasons, as well as for the 
reason that it was for the trial of our faith, 
he represented Christian as coming up to 
the Palace Beautiful, or the Church, by an 
avenue of approach, which was very much 



44 The Palace Beautiful. 

to be feared, because of the lions which 
were in the way. 

But, my dear children, the Christian Church 
which our Lord built, for the refreshment 
and comfort of his poor weary pilgrims, 
while it is a Palace Beautiful has also a 
Beautiful gate, like that of the Jewish tem- 
ple. There is the wide open gateway for 
grown-up people, and there is also the small- 
er gateway for the children. There is the 
open courtyard where the great sacrifices 
can enter, and there is the side entrance 
where the little ones can go in. 

And so I think that the Beautiful gate 
of the temple — the entrance to the Palace 
Beautiful, where all is bright and cheering, 
where the lions are chained, and can not hurt 
us, and where we can hear the voice of the 
Porter Watchful, bidding us welcome — is the 
fact that children can come into the Church, 
and that the Church is for them, and has an 
open gateway for them, over which are 
written those words of Jesus which never 
grow old, " Suffer the little children to come 



The Palace Beautiful. 45 

unto me, and forbid them not, for of such 
is the kingdom of heaven." 

The Wicket Gate, as I have already said, 
is the entrance to the far-off road which 
leads to heaven : the " Beautiful gate of the 
temple," is the entrance to the Church, 
where like Christian in the happy company 
of those who were in the Palace Beautiful, 
we can be made strong, and can be furnished 
with that spiritual armor of which St. Paul 
speaks — which is so necessary for us, in the 
conflict with Satan. Just as in some old 
castle, or manor, or cathedral, we come right 
to the place, by some side door or postern 
gate which is overgrown with ivy, and is 
made beautiful with age — so in the Chris- 
tian Church, or the Palace Beautiful, we find 
one of the most attractive things about it, 
one which gives us the pleasantest impres- 
sions, and makes the approach to it some- 
thing filled with pleasure — instead of some- 
thing filled with fear is — the gate which the 
Master has built for his little ones, — " The 
Beautiful gate of tlie temple" 



46 The Palace Beautiful. 

I want to speak to you to-day, about two 
points in this subject. 

1st. The meaning of the temple. 

2d. The meaning of children in the temple. 



First of all, then, is the meaning of this tem- 
ple. We mean by the temple the Church of 
Christ. 

With the Jews of old, and with Pagan 
nations, the temple was the great build- 
ing set aside for the purpose of worship. 
The Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and the 
Temple of Minerva at Athens, were won- 
derful buildings, dedicated to the worship 
of those heathen divinities. But ever since 
the time of Christ, his followers have met 
together in buildings which are known as 
churches, and all those who believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and name themselves after 
him are called the Church. The word church 
means those who are named after Christ. 
The Greek word for Lord came to be given 
to those who were the Lord's people, and 



, The Palace Beautiful. 47 

in this way the word church has come 
through the Goths from the Greek. 

In Scotland to-day the church is called 
the kirk, and those who know the Greek 
language, can see how this word has come 
from the Greek word Lord. The Church 
then, is made up of all those whom the 
Lord has called. Abraham, and Jacob, and 
David, and Samuel, were " called " to be the 
followers of Jehovah in the Jewish Church; 
and Peter, and John, and James, and Paul, 
and Augustine, and others, were called to 
be the leaders of the Church of Christ. 

Lien to-day form societies and institutions. 
They invite or elect or call, those whom they 
want to have as their friends. There are 
lawyers' societies, and societies of doctors, 
artists, musicians, merchants, bankers, and 
all kinds of business men. Masons and Odd 
Fellows, and Independent Orders of Eed 
Men; college societies, and secret societies, 
are all like churches founded by men. Po- 
litical societies, and fire companies, and mil- 
itary companies, elect or choose their own 



48 The Palace Beautiful. 

members and officers. But no man or set 
of men established the Church of Jesus 
Christ. Our Lord founded this wonderful 
society in his own name. The Spirit of 
God is in this society, the Church, just as 
a mainspring is in a watch, or steam is in 
an engine, and it is the power of God, which 
keeps it alive to-day. 

Jesus said to his disciples before he as- 
cended into heaven, when he gave them 
his final commission to preach, "Go ye, 
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them 
to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you; and lo, I am with you al- 
way, even unto the end of the world." 

And it is because the power of God is in 
his Church to-day, that it has stood all these 
eighteen hundred years, while kingdoms and 
empires have been made, and have been 
broken, and all sorts of changes have taken 
place in the history of the world. It is be- 
cause the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, 



The Palace Beautiful. 49 

has been able to have within its fold the 
most beautiful lives and characters that the 
world has ever seen, and has given to those 
who have entered it, the strongest weapons 
for overcoming sin and Satan, that it has 
been called the Palace Beautiful — a citadel 
whose strength is in the beauty of its holi- 
ness. 

II. 

Secondly we come to our other lesson : 
the meaning of the children in tJie temple. 

Man-made churches, and human societies 
have no place for children. We do not 
find little children at doctors' gatherings, 
and meetings of bank directors. We do 
not find children in congress or in court. 
But we do find them in the Church. 

When Jesus came into Jerusalem, for the 
last time before his death, he came in tri- 
umph, with the people waving palm-branches 
in their hands, and spreading garments in 
the way. They shouted hosanna, and wel- 
comed the prophet as he entered the city. 



50 The Palace Beautiful. 

The chief priests did not know what to 
make of all this excitement. The city was 
all in an uproar, and people were calling 
out, " Who is this ? " as Jesus passed along. 
Then the multitude said, " This is Jesus, the 
prophet of Nazareth." 

Then after Jesus had healed the blind 
and the lame, who congregated about the 
courtyard, and had cleansed the temple, over- 
throwing the tables of the money-changers, 
and the stalls of those who sold doves and 
pigeons for the smaller sacrifices, and had 
driven those irreverent intruders out — we 
read these words: 

"And when the chief priests and scribes 
saw the wonderful things that he did, and 
the children crying in the temple and say- 
ing, Hosanna to the Son of David, they 
were sore displeased, and said unto him, 
Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus 
saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, 
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings 
thou hast perfected praise ? " 

It is this story in the life of Jesus which 



The Palace Beautiful. 51 

we are so glad to remember, when we sing 
that hymn beginning — 

"When his salvation bringing 
To Zion, Jesus came, 
The children all stood singing 

Hosanna to his name; 
Nor did their zeal offend him, 

But as he rode along, 
He let them still attend him, 
And smiled to hear their song. 
Hosanna to Jesus they sang." 

Now, my dear children, there is no story 
in all the life of the Saviour on earth, so 
full of love and meaning for the young, as 
this welcome which Jesus gave to the little 
children in the temple! He rebuked those 
surly priests and scribes who would have 
said, "Go home, children; get away with 
you: this is no place for you." He wel- 
comed those little children who sang Christ's 
praises, and found a place for them in the 
great hall of King Herod's Temple. 

And ever since that day, when Jesus would 
not let the children be driven out of the 



52 The Palace Beautiful. 

Jewish, temple, the latch has been unfas- 
tened, and the beautiful gate of the Chris- 
tian Church has been wide open, for the lit- 
tle ones to come in. 

In our Sunday schools; in our children's 
services; in our Christian training; in our 
library books; in our bright and joyous 
songs and hymns of praise; in the place 
which childhood has in the Christian Church, 
with all its care for children, and its edu- 
cation of the poor, and the ignorant, and 
the helpless ones; in mission schools, and 
church homes, and children's hospitals — we 
see how many are the little footprints of 
the children who keep pressing into the 
Christian Church — through 

u The Beautiful Gate of the Temple!" 

And in this way we learn that the Church 
which our Lord founded, to teach us and 
guide us, and to give us strong armor for 
our warfare with sin, is like the Palace 
Beautiful, where Christian was so warmly 
welcomed ; and that the little gate — the Beau- 



The Palace Beautiful. 53 

tiful gate of the temple — is the welcome 
which Jesus gives now to the children, as 
he gave it once before, when he would 
not let them be driven from the house of 
God. 



III. 
Cuts. 



TESTS. 

"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his 
wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price." 
— Acts v. 1, 2. 

^N one of Jacob Abbott's stories for chil- 
C?5 dren, there is an account of the Spring- 
field Armory in Massachusetts. It is in the 
Marco Paul series. Marco Paul was a boy 
who went travelling about, seeing sights and 
learning a great deal in this way. One book 
is "Marco Paul in Boston"; another is " Mar- 
co Paul on the Erie Canal," and the book to 
which I refer, is called "Marco Paul at the 
Springfield Armory." They are very inter- 
esting books just as all Mr. Abbott's books 
are,— "The Eollo Books," "The Franconia 
Stories," "The Jonas Books," and Abbott's 
histories. 

When Marco Paul visited the Springfield 
Armory, he saw the different ways in which 



58 The Palace Beautiful. 

they manufactured guns, bayonets, and can- 
non. There was boring and drilling and cast- 
ing; there were fires and forges and anvils, 
arid everything that was necessary for the 
manufacturing of weapons of war. Among 
other things which Marco Paul saw, was 
the way in which they tested bayonets. 
First they hung heavy weights on them, to 
be sure that they would bend in one direc- 
tion, and then the gun -makers bent the 
shining steel in the other direction, so as 
to be sure that they would not break in the 
day of action. Every gun and every bayo- 
net in the Springfield Armory was always 
tested, before it was sent out to the United 
States Arsenals, so as to be sure that it 
would stand, when the day for its use came. 
Now, this life of ours, is like the place 
where these guns and bayonets are tested. 
We are all tried here in this world, to see 
what is in us; just as we throw down a 
piece of coin upon the counter, to see if it 
is good money or not. Sometimes people can 
not stand these tests: they are like guns 



Tests. 59 

which blow up, or like bayonets which snap, 
when they are tried, and put to the strain. 

Our text to-day is about a man and his 
wife, who tried to do what the other Chris- 
tians of their day were doing, but found 
that it was too much for them. They broke 
under the strain which was put upon them. 

This was the way it came about. After 
the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit 
came down upon the apostles in flaming 
tongues as of fire, the apostles Peter and 
John went about preaching the new faith 
in Christ. The Jews, who had put our 
Lord to death, arrested them, on account 
of a miracle which they had performed on 
a lame man; but as the people were all 
with the apostles, they were compelled to 
let them go again. 

Then the believers in the new faith, be- 
came very full of zeal and enthusiasm. 
They all thought alike, and resolved to 
form one great family, or community, and 
give up their possessions, their houses and 
lands. It became quite the fashion to make 



60 The Palace Beautiful. 

sacrifices, and people became very generous 
in tins religious contagion. One man named 
Joses, who had a great deal of land, sold it 
and laid the money down at the apostles' 
feet. Then there was a man named An- 
anias, with his wife Sapphira, who were 
rich, and they did the same thing. They 
followed the example, set by this Joses of 
the country of Cyprus. But they thought 
they would keep back a part of the money, 
and make believe that they had given all 
their possessions, into the treasury of the 
Church. 

Then Peter rebuked Ananias, not for keep- 
ing the money, but for acting a lie about it; 
and you know the rest of the story. He fell 
down dead — and so did his wife who came 
in, and told the same lie about the land, and 
it made a great stir in the community. Now 
the trouble with Ananias and Sapphira was 
— that they could not live up to the faith they 
professed. They could not stand this test of 
sacrifice, and when the apostle Peter asked 
them about it — they told a lie, to get out of 



Tests. 61 

the tight place they were in, and God struck 
them down dead for being false. 

But this sermon is not about the sin of 
lying, though that is the sin we generally 
think about, when we hear the story of An- 
anias and Sapphira. I want to talk to you 
to-day about tests. Ananias and his wife, 
were like guns and bayonets in the Spring 
field Armory which had not been tested. 
When the hour of trial came — they broke: 
they could not stand the trial. Their mo- 
tives in selling the land, and giving it to 
the Early Church, were not pure motives. 
They were only trying to follow the relig- 
ious example of the true Christians. They 
wanted to appear as good as the others about 
them. And when they were found out, they 
tried to lie about it — and their lying killed 
them. They had never been truly tested. 

I am going to speak to you to-day about 
these tests which we find around us. 

We learn two lessons from this subject. 



62 The Palace Beautiful. 

I. 

First: Life is made up of tests. 

Animals do not have temptations given to 
them to improve their characters, because 
they have no life after this. They have 
very little idea of goodness and badness. 
To be sure, mules, seem to be totally de- 
praved from their very birth: and a New- 
foundland dog, as he comes waddling along 
and wagging his tail, seems to be the very 
picture of kindness and generosity. But ani- 
mals know nothing about "the Creed, the 
Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, 
and all other things which a Christian ought 
to know and believe to his soul's health" — 
simply because they have no souls. And 
since they have no souls, they have no temp- 
tations. 

But we have souls to be tried, and tested, 
and saved; and therefore we have these tests 
or temptations. 

God wants all his children to be proved 
and tested here, so that in the life to come, 
there may be no failing, or snapping of 



Tests. 63 

our characters, and no breaking out of our 
old sinful natures again, as we suppose the 
fallen angels may have done, when they were 
good angels in heaven. 

Steamers make trial trips before they go 
on long voyages, on purpose that the owners 
may see if they are all sound, and to find 
out if there are any weak places, about the 
working of the machinery. And the cadets 
at West Point, before they finally decide 
whether they will become United States' 
soldiers, go off on the plains, camping out 
and looking after the Indians, on purpose 
to test their strength in the service of the 
Government. Men who are in training for 
boat regattas, or who expect to become pu- 
gilists, put themselves through all manner 
of exercise, on purpose to test their strength, 
so as to be sure that they will not fail, when 
the day of action arrives. 

Some years ago there was an expedition 
made to the Arctic regions, to try and dis- 
cover the North Pole. It was known as 
Captain Scoresby's expedition. He was the 



64 The Palace Beautiful. 

leader. He had heard of so many men be- 
coming sick and failing, who had gond 
before, that he resolved the men in his 
party, should be thoroughly tested before 
they went, so as to have no failure when 
the day for trial came. Every man who ap- 
plied to accompany him, was made to stand 
barefooted on a great block of ice, while 
the surgeon examined his body. Numbers 
of men were rejected, at once, since they had 
not nerve enough to stand the trial, whereas 
those who stood the test made up a band of 
stalwart heroes. 

And in very much this same way, Gideon, 
when he was in pursuit of the Midianites, 
was told by God to make the drinking of 
water, as the men were on the march, the 
test of those who were to go with him. 
Those men, who in their hurry, only had 
time to lap up the water from the brook, 
as a dog laps water with his tongue, were 
the ones who were accepted. The easy, 
comfortable-going men, who took the time 
to get down on their knees, and drink the 



Tests. 65 

water leisurely, were all rejected. And in 
this way, Gideon's band was tested, or proved, 
and only the eager ones were chosen to go 
and fight the Midianites. 

Even our Lord was tested or tried by Sa- 
tan, when he was in the wilderness. He 
was tempted in all points like as we are, 
yet without sin. Some of the tests which 
were in use in old times to prove people's 
characters were very curious. There used 
to be an old custom of trial by fire, as it 
was called. The person who was accused 
of any crime, or heresy, would run through 
a blazing fire and if he w r as burned, he was 
considered guilty; but if he passed through 
unharmed, it was supposed that he was in- 
nocent. Savonarola, the great Florentine Ee- 
former, who was accused by his enemies of 
heresy, offered to go through the trial by 
fire, by passing through a long bon-fire of 
pitch and rosin, in order to prove to his ene- 
mies that he was innocent, and that God 
was on his side. 

In the year 680 there was a great council 



66 The Palace Beautiful. 

of the Church held in Constantinople, to set- 
tle a certain controversy about the will of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Some people said 
that our Lord had two wills — one a divine, 
and the other a human will. Others said 
that though he had two natures, he was 
only one person, and therefore had only 
one will. All this seems very strange and 
difficult perhaps, but some day many of you, 
no doubt, will read church history for your- 
selves, and then you will come across this 
controversy. 

The majority of the council, took the view 
that Jesus had two wills. There was one 
old man, however, named Polychronius, who 
belonged to the minority. He challenged the 
council to settle the matter by a miracle, 
Said he, "Let me lay my testimony on the 
breast of a dead man, and it will revive him." 
This was agreed to. A corpse was brought 
into the council room, and was laid upon the 
table, and the writings of old Polychronius 
were placed on the breast of the dead man 
The bishops sat by in solemn silence, all 



Tests. 67 

looking intently at the dead body, to see 
if it would wake up and move. But hours 
passed on, and the corpse remained lifeless, 
and so the doctrine of Polychronius was de- 
clared to be false by this his own chosen 
test. 

And, my dear children, we are being 
tested and tried all the time, in this life of 
ours. School is a test, and home obedience 
is a test, and the laws of the land are a 
test, and the Ten Commandments are God's 
test of our obedience to him. 

Life is made up of tests. The Christian 
Church is made up of them; and we must not 
think we can shirk our responsibilities, by 
appearing to do as others do — and yet after 
all be false at heart. Ananias and Sapphira 
failed in God's sight, because they could not 
stand the test of obedience, which the Church 
of the apostles established. They sold their 
land ; but kept back part of the price. They 
broke, under the trial of their obedience. 



68 The Palace Beautiful. 

II. 

Secondly: Tests shoiu us wliat we really are. 

A school examination is a great test of 
our knowledge. A written examination at 
college is the highest kind of test we can 
have. There are the long tables, and the 
question papers, and the paper and the pens 
— and all those blank sheets of paper must 
be filled out, with that knowledge which is 
supposed to be in the minds of those who 
are to be examined. An examination day 
at college, is like a piece out of the day of 
Judgment — there is the right side and the 
left side, and there are the silent judges, 
and the test questions which are to acquit 
or condemn us. 

In chemical laboratories, or the places 
where experiments are made, the professor 
in charge, has what he calls "test tubes," 
and "test papers." These are intended to 
be used in such a way as to detect any 
chemical or mineral which may be in the 
solution. Thus a certain drop of colorless 
water, dropped into the test tube where 



Tests. 69 

there is some other plain-looking water, will 
cause it to become red or yellow, or if it 
is dropped upon the test paper, it will turn 
it red The tube and the paper become the 
tests, or the witnesses, to the presence of the 
chemical in the water. The color they show 
is just like a signal light on a railroad 
track. It means that something new is 
coming. 

i There was a little girl once who wanted 
a blue forget-me-not ring on her birthday. 
Her father promised to give it to her upon 
the one condition, that if he asked for it 
again, she should give it back to him. 

One day her father came into the house 
and said, "Now, Nelly, I want that blue 
forget-me-not ring. You remember your 
promise." 

Nelly looked at her pretty little ring, gave 
a long sigh, and slowly handed it to her 
father. 

"My darling child," said her father, "I 
only did this to test your obedience. Here 
is your ring. I wanted to see if you had 



70 The Palace Beautiful. 

forgotten your promise," and he hugged his 
dear child to his arms, and gave the ring 
back again to her. 

Now, my dear children, God tests our 
lives in this same way, in order to show us 
what we really are, and to bring out our 
hidden strength and obedience. 

The Bible is full of these examples of tests. 

Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, 
had their obedience tested, on purpose to 
show what they really were — but they could 
not stand the trial: they sinned and were 
disobedient. And in the fourteenth chapter 
of the prophecy of Ezekiel, we read about 
Noah, Daniel, and Job as the three men of 
the Old Testament, who were tried and tested 
men, and yet were not able to save the land 
from the troubles which beset it. Noah was 
tried by his faith in God, when he was a 
hundred and twenty years in building the 
ark, while the people laughed at his fool- 
ishness, and scoffed at his fears about a com- 
ing deluge. Daniel was tested when he was 
thrown into the lions' den ; when every 



Tests. 71 

one expected that lie would be torn to 
pieces; and when instead of springing on 
him, the great curly-headed lions came up 
to him, and without a growl walked away. 
And Job was tested to the uttermost, when 
houses, and lands, and possessions, and chil- 
dren, were all taken from him, and when, 
instead of cursing God in the midst of all 
his ruins, as his false friends advised him 
to do, he simply said, "The Lord gave, and 
the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the 
name of the Lord." 

There was a sea captain once who had a 
colored cabin-boy named Jim. The sailors 
used to call him " Old Hundred " — he was 
so odd looking, and did such old-fashioned, 
solemn things. When he was off duty, he 
used to speak pieces at the forecastle, for 
the amusement of the sailors. Jim was a 
great favorite, but he used to steal the Cap- 
tain's preserved ginger, and stewed prunes, 
and stray pieces of sugar and confectionery. 
At last the Captain set a trap to catch him. 
He put pieces of paper under the jars of the 



72 The Palace Beautiful, 

ginger, and at one side of the dish of sweet- 
meats, so that if they were disturbed, these 
pieces of paper would disappear. But Jim 
was too cunning for this trap : so after help- 
ing himself freely, he put the jars on the 
pieces of white paper, just as they were be- 
fore. At last the Captain thought of another 
catch. He put a most tempting dish of 
stewed prunes, directly in Jim's way in the 
pantry. That night he was called up by 
the second mate. Jim was very sick. 

"What's the matter, Jim?" said the Cap- 
tain. 

"Oh Captain, Jim's dying this time, sure," 
was the reply. " I've got the cholera— awful 
bad." 

It wasn't the cholera that was the matter 
with Jim: it was a heavy dose of ipecac, 
which the Captain had put into the dish 
of preserves. 

"You will be all right in the morning," 
said the Captain. "Next time, I rather 
think you will let my preserves alone." 

The Captain's test showed who was the 



Tests. 73 

thief on his vessel. There was no need for 
any other proof. 

And we have these tests and proofs of our 
conduct, about us at every turn. When we 
blush for shame, or when we are afraid to 
look our parents or teachers in the face; 
when our heads hang down, and when our 
hearts beat pit-pat, pit-pat, the tests of char- 
acter are working in us, just as the chemi- 
cals work upon the test papers or the test 
tubes. 

You may go into a room where ladies 
are sitting, and where a baby is asleep in 
the cradle, and you may not be able to 
tell which is the mother, and which are 
only visitors. But when the baby cries, 
the mother hurries to the cradle: it is the 
cry of the little helpless child, which reveals 
to us the mother's heart of love. 

And in this same way Jesus Christ our 
Saviour, when he was here upon earth, 
showed us the Father's love for his children ; 
for he said upon the cross, when no one 
else could help him, " Father, into thy hands 



74 The Palace Beautiful. 

I commend my spirit/' It was the cry of 
Jesus the Son of God, which has revealed 
to us our Heavenly Fathers love in heaven. 

Do not forget these two lessons: 

1st. Life is made up of tests. 

2d. Tests show us what we are. 

And in this way, the old Bible story of 
Ananias and Sapphira, will teach us a great 
truth, as we see how weak they were, in not 
being able to do as the others were doing. 
They failed in their efforts : they were tried, 
and were found wanting, by the test of 
truthfulness and sincerity. 



IV. 



Jfast 5 rifting. 




FAST DRIVING. 

"The driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of 
Nimshi, for he driveth furiously. " — II Kings ix. 20. 

E are all known by our habits. One 
man is known by his handwriting, 
another by his walk, a third by his voice, 
a fourth by his merry song. The man that 
our sermon is about was known by his 
"fast driving " — so that to this day, when 
a person wants to describe a fast driver, 
he says, "He is a perfect Jehu." 

Jehu was called by God to do a special 
work, when the country was overrun by idol- 
aters to the heathen divinity Baal. And he 
did the work he was called to do, only he 
did it in his own way. He was anointed 
king by command of the prophet Elisha, and 
from that day on, he seems to have spent 
most of his time in a chariot, driving about 



78 The Palace Beautiful. 

the kingdom, rooting out all the idolaters, 
and making havoc with the worshippers of 
the idol Baal. God made use of Jehus in- 
tensity of life, just as he makes use of a 
thunder storm to clear the atmosphere, or 
of some great fire to clear a pestilential dis- 
trict. Attila, the barbarian who invaded 
Eome with his hordes in the year 450, was 
called "the scourge of God." It was just 
like having the yellow fever or the cholera, 
to have him come among them. He was 
a scourge, or plague, to the people. And 
Jehu was a minister to do God's will, just 
as a thunder storm is God's servant to clear 
the atmosphere, or an October frost is like 
an angel of health, in a place where the 
yellow fever is raging. 

This is the story of Jehu. In the year 884 
b. c, the prophet Elisha was told by God, to 
send a young prophet with a box of oil, and 
anoint with it, a certain young man named Je- 
hu to be king over Israel. This was very much 
like the way in which Samuel had anointed 
Saul the first king of Israel, and David his 



Fast Driving. 79 

successor. Each of them was taken out from 
among his brethren, and was anointed by a 
prophet to be king. There was at this time 
a king over the ten tribes of Israel, named 
Joram. He was the son of the wicked Ahab, 
and the wicked descendants of this king 
were now to be destroyed. This Jehu was 
the man chosen to do the work. Joram, the 
king of Israel, had been fighting against 
the Syrians, and had been wounded in bat- 
tle. On his way home, he stopped at the 
city of Jezreel, to be healed of his wounds, 
and his friend and ally, Ahaziah, king of 
Judah, came down to see King Joram, and 
talk over the battle, in which they together 
had taken part against Hazael, king of Syria. 
While the two kings were talking together, 
a watchman, who was on a tower on the 
ramparts, sent word in to the king, that he 
espied a company of horsemen coming to- 
wards the walls. Thereupon the king sent 
out a messenger on horseback, who said to 
Jehu, " Is it peace ? " This was to know 
what he meant, by riding through the coun- 



80 The Palace Beautiful. 

try with an armed band. Jehu told the mes- 
senger of King Joram, to turn behind and 
follow his company of horsemen. " What 
hast thou to do with peace ? " were Jehu's 
words, "turn thee behind me." And the 
watchman told the king, how the messen- 
ger was made captive, by this group of 
horsemen. 

Then a second messenger on horseback, 
went forth to challenge the party, and he 
too was taken prisoner. Hereupon the king 
ordered his chariot, and the two kings went 
out of Jezreel to meet the enemy. They did 
not know exactly who it was that was com- 
ing, but the watchman made a good guess, 
when he came in the second time and said, 
"The driving is like the driving of Jehu, 
the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously." 

This shows how Jehu, who was a captain 
in King Joram's army, was already known 
by his habit of fast driving. Even the 
watchmen on the gates, the sentinels in a 
distant city, knew the crack of his whip, and 
the speed of his plunging steeds. 




JEHU IN HIS CHARIOT. 
Palace Beautiful 



Fast Driving. 81 

Well, as soon as the two chariots met on 
the road, Joram saw that there was a rebel- 
lion on hand, and he said to the king of 
Judah, " There is treachery, oh Ahaziah." 

Then Jehu, from his chariot, drew a bow 
with his full strength, and smote Jehoram 
between his arms, and the arrow went into 
his breast, and he sank down in his chariot. 

"Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, 
Take up, and cast him in the portion of the 
field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember 
how that, when I and thou rode together, 
after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this 
burden upon him: surely I have seen yes- 
terday the blood of Naboth and the blood 
of his sons, saith the Lord; and I will re- 
quite thee in this plat saith the Lord. Now, 
therefore, take and cast him into the plat of 
ground, according to the .word of the Lord." 

The other king, Ahaziah, fled down the 
garden by the way of the house, but Jehu 
was right after him, and shot him with an 
arrow, so that he died at Megiddo, on his 
way to Jerusalem. 



82 The Palace Beautiful. 

Then followed Jehu's revenge npon Jeze- 
bel, the wife of Ahab and mother of King 
Joram. She was a Phenician princess, and 
was the daughter of the king of the Zido- 
nians. She had been the chief supporter and 
defender of the false worship of Baal. She 
it was who protected the priests of Baal, and 
set her husband, King Ahab, to work, to 
try to kill the prophet Elijah. When she 
saw Jehu enter the city, and heard of the 
death of her son, the king, she dressed her- 
self in her royal robes, and looking out of 
the high lattice window of her eastern pal- 
ace, she called out to Jehu, reminding him 
of a former piece of treachery in the history 
of the kingdom, when a certain servant slew 
his master, and became king, "Had Zimri 
peace, who slew his master ? " 

Then Jehu called up, "Who is on my 
side? Throw her down!" Hereupon, some 
of the servants of the palace threw her out 
of the window, and she was dashed in pieces, 
and Jehu drove over her dead body, and 
trampled her under his horses' feet. 



Fast Driving. 83 

And then, after Jehu had eaten and drunk, 
in the deserted palace of King Joram, he 
sent out word to bury her ; for, he said, she 
was a king's daughter. But they could only 
find her scull and her feet. The dogs had 
eaten her dead body — and the prophecy 
which Elijah had uttered, years before, came 
at last to be true: "In the portion of Jezreel 
shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel." 

After this, Jehu became king, and rooted 
out the entire family of King Ahab. The 
heads of Ahab's seventy sons were sent to 
Jehu, in a basket, and forty-two of Aha- 
ziah's brethren were caught at the sheep 
shearing season, and were killed. Then Je- 
hu determined to kill all the priests of Baal. 
He said to Jehonadab, the son of Eechab, 
the head of a sort of gypsy tribe, who lived 
in tents, and did not drink wine or sow their 
own fields: "Come with me, and see my 
zeal for the Lord." So he brought Jehona- 
dab down to Samaria in his own chariot, 
and then by telling a lie, and making all 
the worshippers of Baal believe that he 



84 The Palace Beautiful. 

wanted to worship with them, he brought 
them together into a temple, and slew them 
there. 

Now all this was very fast driving. But 
Jehu kept quoting Scripture all the time, 
so as to make it appear, that all his own per- 
sonal hatred and ambition was his zeal for 
the Lord. And to this day when a person 
is over-zealous — and drives things at a race- 
horse speed, people say that he is a perfect 
Jehu. 

I want to speak to you to-day about go- 
ing too fast, and the evils which this habit 
brings with it. 



And first of all I would say, fast driving 
makes us thoughtless. 

When we are thoughtless, we become 
reckless; we act only from the motives of 
the present, and do not stop to think any 
thing about the future. 

There were some boys once in the coun- 



Fast Driving. 85 

try, who were driving a horse in a buggy, 
and were making him canter. The old horse 
was gallopping along like a horse in the cir- 
cus-ring. I knew the boys, and stopped 
them, to ask what they meant by ruining 
their carriage, and putting their old horse 
out of breath. 

"Oh," said one of them, "the horse doesn't 
belong to us, and we've borrowed the car- 
riage." 

Now I doubt whether those boys would 
have driven in that way, if they had had a 
pony carriage or a donkey cart of their own. 
They would have thought more about it. 
They would not have been so reckless, and 
thoughtless. We do not stop to think when 
we are in a hurry. We jump off of cars 
before they come to a rest; we try to cross 
the street, before the carriage which is being 
driven so rapidly, reaches the crossing; we 
are continually doing things in life, when 
we are in a hurry, on what is called the 
spur of the moment, which we would not 
do, if we stopped to think a little while. 



86 The Palace Beautiful. 

And all this comes from fast driving. Boys 
slide down the banisters, to get to the 
bottom of the stairs quickly, and get their 
ankles sprained, and their arms broken. 

Steamboats on the Mississippi Eiver, in 
days gone by, used to race so fast and pile 
on the steam so heavily, that the high press- 
ure boilers would burst, and kill the passen- 
gers! Whenever we hear a steamboat or a 
locomotive letting off steam, we may be sure 
that it is the sign on the engineer s part, not 
of thoughtlessness and recklessness, but of 
care and caution. 

Thoughtlessness causes us to get into a 
great many foolish and dangerous places in 
life; and those who will drive furiously, al- 
ways drive thoughtlessly. 

Some years ago, a young man, from a 
foolish desire to get ahead of others, and do 
what they could not do, resolved to row 
a boat across the waters of Lake Erie, just 
above the Falls of Niagara. He started out 
bravely, and pushed out into the stream ; but 
soon his boat met that terrible current, which 



Fast Driving. 87 

sucks in with such overwhelming force, tow- 
ards the falls. All his efforts were power- 
less, and in a few moments he was swept 
against the rocks, above the falls. His boat 
was crushed, and he caught hold of a pro- 
jecting rock. The people crowded upon the 
shore by thousands. Eewards were offered, 
to any one who would attempt to rescue 
him. Kopes were thrown, and rafts launched 
out, but all was in vain. He hung to the 
rock for twenty-four hours, amid the deafen- 
ing roar of the cataract, and then his 
strength gave way, and he went over the 
falls, and was lost. 

And all this was the result of thoughtless- 
ness and recklessness in trying to do some- 
thing which others could not do. It was the 
recklessness of going too fast! 

II. 

Secondly, Fast driving makes us ambitious. 

You know how it is with people who want 

to race. They will not go second. They 

want to come out ahead; and this desire 



88 The Palace Beautiful. 

to be first, rales all the other desires in the 
heart. When the great temple of Diana was 
standing at Ephesus, the pride and the won- 
der of Greece, it was one night destroyed by- 
fire. The city authorities, after ranch search, 
discovered the incendiary. The criminal's 
name was Erostatus. 

"Why have you committed such a crime?" 
they asked him at his trial. 

After thinking for a few moments, he re- 
plied, " Diana is known to fame, and so is 
the temple at Ephesus. But I will never 
be known. Therefore I have destroyed this 
temple, in order that my name may be linked 
with that of the temple, and may be known, 
as well as that of the great goddess." 

Thereupon the city authorities passed a 
decree, that whosoever should mention the 
name of Erostatus, should be punished as 
a state criminal. This was like putting on 
the brakes, to the fast driving of one, whose 
chief motive was a wicked ambition to be 
known to fame. 

When the Emperor Napoleon returned to 



Fast Driving. 89 

his palace, immediately after his defeat at 
Waterloo, he continued many hours without 
any refreshment. One of the grooms of his 
chamber, ventured to serve up some coffee in 
his cabinet, by the hands of a boy whom 
the emperor had frequently noticed. But the 
fallen ruler sat motionless, with his head bur- 
ied in his hands. 

The little page stood patiently before him 
for some time, and at last said, "Eat, sire. 
This food will do you good." 

"Where do you live, and what do you 
do?" asked Napoleon. 

" I come from Pierrefit, a village, near 
Paris; and I help my father and mother in 
our little cottage, where I work upon the 
farm." 

"There is happiness," exclaimed the de- 
feated emperor. "Look at this child, and 
then look at me ! " 

But all Napoleon's troubles were brought 
on by himself. He was not content to drive 
his empire with a moderate hand. He wanted 
to be going fast all the time: he wanted to 



90 The Palace Beautiful. 

drive furiously, like Jehu of old, and the re- 
sult was, his ambition broke his vast empire 
into pieces, and ruined him. We all know 
the Latin motto — Festinalente — "Make haste 
slowly." Men in business to-day, are not 
content to go leisurely: they must drive 
their business at a canter. They must be 
first. They must outstrip all their competi- 
tors, and the result is, the business is broken 
to pieces, by this rapid speed. Some boys 
and girls drive on too fast in their studies. 
They want to be first in school and college, 
and they lose their health, and are fit only 
for the doctor's hands. Our politicians in 
Congress want to be at the head of af- 
fairs, and they drive on their plans in the 
struggle for power, just as the old Eoman 
chariots drove in the race-course of the 
Coliseum. 

Jehu was ambitious to be king of Israel, 
and he was reckless in the way in which 
he did God's will; so that he has always 
been known as the man who drove furi- 
ously, and made the dust fly, as he cracked 



Fast Driving. 91 

his whip, and stormed up and down, like a 
tornado, in the Kingdom of Israel. 

III. 

Thirdly, Fast driving makes us cruet 

It is very wonderful to think how horses 
and men, when they are put together, change 
places. The horses seem to grow better, and 
the men seem to grow worse. Betting, and 
drinking, and swearing, and loud talking, 
and temper, seem to be the surroundings of 
men who deal with horses, and are known 
as horse-jockeys. 

And those who want to be first, and gain 
the victory over others, become very cruel, 
in the way in which they use the spurs and 
the whip. 

Alexander the Great, when he had con- 
quered Darius, treated him with great cru- 
elty. The unhappy fallen king, after the 
battle, tried to save a portion of his king- 
dom, by offering to his conqueror his daugh- 
ter for his wife, and the largest portion of 
his empire for her dower, and ten thousand 



92 The Palace Beautiful. 

talents in money. Alexander answered, that 
lie would not have that which he could not 
command. After this, poor Darius renewed 
his offer only adding more gold. 

Alexander replied, "As the world would 
not endure two suns, neither could the earth 
endure two sovereign emperors, without per- 
mutation of the state of all things. Yield 
to-day, or prepare for war to-morrow." 

And this is the way in which human na- 
ture always acts, when it gets going rapidly 
with ambitious, selfish, reckless and cruel 
motives. 

There is a story of ancient Eome about 
the cruelty of fast going, which I read 
when I was a child, and have never for- 
gotten. 

In the days of the kings, before the re- 
public of Rome was declared, the sixth king 
of Rome was named Servius Tullius. He 
had two daughters; one of these was of a 
sweet and lovely disposition, the other was 
very proud, cruel and high tempered. The 
king, Tarquinius Priscus, who had reigned 



Fast Driving. 93 

before Servius, left two grandchildren, whom 
Tanaquil, the wife of Tarquinius, confided to 
the care of Servius. Servius was a slave 
boy, in the family of Tarquinius, and yet 
was so remarkable for his character and 
services, that he became king, upon the 
death of Tarquin. 

But the descendants of Tarquin, when 
they grew up, wanted to have again the 
throne of their fathers. The eldest daugh- 
ter of Servius was married to Lucius, the 
eldest grandchild of the late king, and the 
youngest daughter, Tullia, was married to 
Aruns, the youngest grandson. Aruns was 
a sweet and lovely youth, and his wife, 
Tullia, was like a she tiger; while Lucius 
was fierce and vindictive, and was married 
to an amiable and gentle maiden. This 
double ill assorted match, produced the 
greatest unhappiness. 

Soon Lucius and Tullia came together, 
and finding that they were kindred spirits, 
began to plot for the overthrow of the 
kingdom. First Lucius managed to get rid 



94 The Palace Beautiful. 

of his wife, and Tullia poisoned her hus- 
band, the gentle Aruns. Then they were 
married in private, and Lucius, or Tarquin- 
ius Superbus as he was afterwards named, 
began to plot, and raise a rebellion against 
his kind protector and father-in-law, Servius 
Tullius. 

After much plotting, and after getting the 
national officials on his side, he appeared in 
the senate house, one day, in the royal pur- 
ple, with the fasces of the lictors and all 
the insignia of royalty. The old king, hear- 
ing of this, rushed to the senate, and found 
the usurper on the throne. Then a violent 
scene ensued. Tarquinius accused the aged 
Servius of having seized the throne of his 
ancestors, and taunted him with being once 
a slave. Hereupon the aged Servius rushed 
upon Tarquinius, but was stabbed and wound- 
ed, and dragged from the hall by the follow- 
ers of Tarquin. 

At last, all covered with blood, the for- 
saken Servius, endeavored to stagger back 
again to his palace, through the crooked 



Fast Driving. 95 

streets of Eome. Tarquin, fearing that Ser- 
vius might recover, sent some assassins, who 
overtook him as he was tottering along the 
street, and finally dispatched him, and left 
his bleeding body lying on the stones of 
the pavement. 

In the mean time, Tullia, the wife of 
Tarquin, hearing of what had happened, 
ordered her chariot, and drove very rapidly 
through the streets towards the senate, to 
help her husband forward in his ambitions 
plans. On her way thither, she passed the 
spot, where her dead father lay, in the nar- 
row street. The horses were afraid to tread 
upon the dead body, and so they reared, 
and pawed the ground with their hoofs. 
The driver got out of the chariot to hold 
the horses. 

11 Why do you stop?" cried Tullia. " Drive 
on, you slave ! " 

"Look," replied the driver, "the dead body 
of your father lies before us, and there is no 
passage except we drive across it." 

" Then drive across it, you wretch ! " ex- 



96 The Palace Beautiful. 

claimed the heartless woman ; and away went 
the heavy chariot, breaking the bones, and 
tearing and mangling the flesh of the un- 
fortunate Servius. 

This cruelty was not forgotten. The re- 
membrance of this dreadful act was kept 
alive ever afterwards, for from that day 
the street received the name of Vicus Sceh- 
ratus — or the Impious Street. 

It was cruelty of heart, which caused that 
wicked woman Tullia, to drive so furiously. 
She was like Jezebel, or Lady Macbeth, or 
the infamous Lucretia Borgia. It was cru- 
elty, which made that wicked woman do 
such a dreadful deed. 

Cruelty is a strong motive in urging 
us to carry on our wayward plans! The 
whip and the spur are "instruments of 
cruelty." 

IV. 

Fourthly, Fast driving wears us out 
Eace horses are very soon worn out. We 
hear their names for a little while, and 



Fast Driving. 97 

then they are forgotten. " Abdallah," " Lady- 
Stanhope," " Goldsmith Maid," " Parole," and 
hosts of other horse-names, are heard for 
a season or two, and then are forgotten. 
This racing wears them out. The poor horses 
on the horse-car tracks, only last for three or 
four years. The hard cobble-stones and the 
daily trips over stony pavements, without 
ever a touch of a soft, country road, uses 
them all up. If I were a horse, and was 
sold to a horse-car company, I would make 
my will at once, and would think no more 
of the things of this world. 

And men and women are worn out by 
fast going and incessant going, just as the 
horses are used up. Singers, and performers, 
and actors, and all those who are before the 
public, and are called upon to do wonder- 
ful or extraordinary things, wear themselves 
out, as the race horses do. 

We can not go fast, and go for a long 
time. I have seen men who have lived what 
is called "fast lives," and they have always 
died young. We can not keep up a high 



98 The Palace Beautiful. 

speed of going, and keep it tip for a long 
time with safety. 

A certain musical performer, who was in 
wretched health, went to see his doctor. 
The pills did him no good ; the powders 
were of no use. What was he to do ? The 
doctor looked at his tired face, and sunken 
eyes, and then said to him, "Your violin is 
tuned too high. You must unscrew it and 
let it rest six months.'' 

"But," said the musician, "my violin is 
all right; it is I that am wrong." 

"Yes," replied the physician, "you are my 
violin just now ; and I say that you have been 
wound up too high — your nerve-strings are 
keyed up too high." 

The man was worn all out. He had been 
going too rapidly. He had driven furiously 
— like the fast Jehu of our story. 

Now, my dear children, I want you to try 
and remember these lessons about fast driv- 
ing. I do not believe in ever being slow 
and stupid. You know there is what is 
called the " slow coach," and while we have 



Fast Driving. 99 

plenty of time to see the country, from the 
windows of this conveyance, we do not get 
on very fast in it. For myself, I do not like 
to travel in the slow coach ; but at the same 
time, we must guard against fast driving. 

Eemember then this story of Jehu — the 
man who drove so furiously — and bear in 
mind that the habit of fast driving, or going 
recklessly — makes us Thoughtless, Ambitious, 
Cruel, and wears us out ! 

And these are the lessons we learn from 
the story of that fast driver of old — Jehu. 



planting anfc (Srofohg. 



PLANTING AND GROWING. 

"If we have been planted together in the likeness of 
his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resur- 
rection." — Komans vi. 5. 

£5^ HERE is nothing so wonderful in the 
*^ world as the mystery of planting a 
seed in the ground. Just think of it ! Here 
is a little dry yellow or black seed. It looks 
dead and hard. It may be kept for many 
years, for hundreds of years, by itself, and 
it is only a little dry seed all this length of 
time. But now you take it in the spring- 
time, and plant it in the ground. You cover 
it over in the earth, and water it, and pres- 
ently a little tender blade or sprout will 
appear, piercing its way through the clods 
of the ground, and before very long the 
plant, or the flower, or the tree, will be 
growing up into the sunlight. 

This is what our Lord had in mind, when 



104 The Palace Beautiful. 

he said in one of his parables, "The king- 
dom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard 
seed which a man took and sowed in his 
field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, 
but when it is grown, it is the greatest 
among herbs; so that the birds of the air 
come, and lodge in the branches thereof." 

And in another parable he said, " The earth 
bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, 
then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
ear." 

I remember hearing of an old mill-wheel 
which was imbedded in the earth, so that 
the farmers and people who came to the 
mill for flour, would sit down and rest on 
it. But one day an acorn was dropped into 
the centre of the wheel, and became buried 
in the earth. It took root and grew up, 
first as a sapling, and then as a strong oak- 
tree and lifted the heavy mill stone up so 
high, that the people who used to sit on it, 
came and stood under it, to keep them from 
the rain and the sun. 

Now this whole world of planting and 



Planting and Growing. 105 

growing, is very wonderful. We all love 
to watch the grass, and the flowers, and 
the trees, putting forth their green leaves 
in May-time. The spring-time — when after 
April showers come May flowers, when the 
blossoms are on the apple-trees, and the 
pussy willows have opened into green leaves, 
and everything looks so fair, and beautiful 
and full of promise, is the type and picture 
of the resurrection. 

In the country farm-houses, by the big 
chimney where the open fire of logs is burn- 
ing, there generally is found, hanging up be- 
hind the big settle, or seat with a high back, 
"The Farmers' Almanac." It has ajl kinds 
of knowledge in it, from the zodiac signs 
and astronomical calculations, to receipts for 
making puddings, and advertisements about 
quack medicines. But after all "The Farm- 
ers' Almanac" is very good reading. Here 
is what it says about the month of May: 

"It is but once a year that the spring 
comes, and we must make the most of it. 
If we don't fly around now, we can't have 



106 The Palace Beautiful. 

much to do in the fall. So let us be up 
early and down late. To plough, to plant, 
and to hoe, may not be the chief end of 
man, but it was the first great work given 
him to do; and that he might keep it in 
mind for all time, he had a pledge that 
the seed-time should not fail. As you sow, 
so shall you reap. Now is the time to put 
in a field-crop of beets. Keep an eye on 
the fruit trees; now is the time when the 
worms are on the lookout for a breakfast. 
The cows ought to go to grass now." All 
this is good reading for boys who like the 
country. It keeps before the mind the won- 
derful fact, that Nature always has something 
for us to do. Every month brings the farm- 
er face to face with new duties, all the way 
into the winter. 

But the springtime and the harvest are, 
after all, the two great times in a farmer's 
life. He sows in the spring, and reaps in 
the fall. And if he does not sow any thing, 
of course he will reap nothing. 



Planting and Growing. 107 

Our sermon to-day is about " Planting and 
Growing." 

There are two lessons for us to learn from 
this subject: 

First, The meaning of Christian planting, 

Second, The meaning of Christian growing. 



And first, there is the meaning of Christian 
planting. 

St. Paul says, in these words of our text 
to-day, " If we have been planted together 
in the likeness of his death, we shall be 
also in the likeness of his resurrection." He 
means by this, that if we let our old na- 
ture, our evil will, die or be crucified and 
buried, as Christ was, and are like him in 
this dying to ourselves and to the world, 
we will be like Christ, in the new body or 
the new power which he had on the morn- 
ing of the resurrection. If our evil wills 
are buried, or put in the ground, as one 
plants or buries a seed, then we shall have 
a new growth, as the plant has, when it 



108 The Palace Beautiful. 

comes to the surface out of the old and 
buried seed. 

This was what Jesus meant when he said, 
" Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground 
and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it 
bringeth forth much fruit." The one secret 
of growth in all plant-life is, first of all, the 
death of the seed. This must be buried in 
the ground. There it must die or burst out 
of its shell; and then, from the nourishment 
of the earth and the rain, and the sun, it will 
take root in the ground, and will spring up 
into a plant. The life of the plant, growing 
above ground, is the resurrection-life of the 
buried seed. And if we would be like our 
Saviour in his resurrection-life, we must be 
like him, in the way in which he obeyed 
God's will even unto death. If we would 
grow and have an upper life, we must first 
of all plant the seed, and bury the old 
nature. 

"Well, Jackie," said Hugo Norris at a 
boarding-school, "there's no use in doing 
any thing more to him. That new scholar, 



Planting and Growing. 109 

Tom Harrington, is a Christian after all, dead 
sure.'' 

"Why so?" asked Jackie. 

"Because I've tried every thing on him, 
and he won't get mad one bit." 

"What have you tried?" Jackie asked. 

"Oh," said Hugo, "why, you see, first 
of all I jammed him up against the wall 
going upstairs, then I walked him 'Spanish/ 
then I paddled him with a shingle, then 
I trod on his toes, and threw mud on him 
every time he came out of the pond; I 
hit him on the back every time with mud 
balls — and I never did see such a fellow. 
I'm awfully ashamed of myself, Jackie. He 
never said a single swear-word once. Oh, 
Jackie, I tell you Tom's a genuine Chris- 
tian; no mistake. Those mud halls fetched 
the Christian out of him." 

Now, this is what is meant by being 
planted or buried in the likeness of Christ. 
Jesus said of his murderers, you remember, 
"Father, forgive them, for they know not 
what they do." And tb be like Christ in 



110 The Palace Beautiful. 

the likeness of his death, is to let our old 
will, our evil nature, die or be crucified, or 
be buried, or be planted, that a new nature 
may come up. We know that in the life of 
Jesus there were two natures, the divine and 
the human. And in our life, if we are Chris- 
tians, there ought to be two natures — that 
which St. Paul calls the "old man," and 
that which he calls the "new man." He 
says, " Our old man," meaning our old na- 
ture, "is crucified with him," that is, with 
Jesus. Our old, sinful nature must be planted 
or buried, as Christ's body was buried, in or- 
der that our new life may be raised or made 
to grow, as Christ's resurrection-life grew out 
of his death and burial. 

Many years ago, in the South, there was 
a young planter who came into possession 
of his uncle's property. He did not know 
much about the plantation, as he had been 
away at college and in Europe. After his 
uncle's death, he went down into Alabama, 
to take charge of the plantation which had 
been bequeathed to him. Among the slaves 



Planting and Growing. Ill 

there, lie had frequently heard of a very bad- 
tempered man named Caesar Johnson. Caesar 
used to get drunk, and fight with the other 
slaves, and in every way made a great deal 
of trouble. 

One day after he had been talking with 
the overseer of the plantation, he sent for 
Caesar to come and see him. An old, gray- 
headed colored man appeared. 

"Well, Caesar," said the planter, "I hear 
you are a terrible fighter." 

"Oh no, massah," said Caesar. "You're 
mistaken dis yere time, shuah ! " 

"No, I am not," replied the planter. "I 
have heard all about you; and I want you 
to turn over a new leaf, or I'll sell you down 
in Louisiana." 

"Bress you, massah," said Caesar, chuck- 
ling, "why, you're all off de track. You're 
a hundred years behind de time ! " 

" How so, Caesar ? " asked the planter. " I 
don't want you to trifle with me." 

"No, massah," said Caesar, "I'm not a-tri- 
flin' wid ye; you'se a-triflin' wid your own 



112 The Palace Beautiful. 

se'f, honey. Dat old Csesar Johnson you've 
heerd tell about, he been gone dead and bur- 
ied long ago — forty foot under de ground. 
Dis yere Csesar' s quite anudder pusson. He's 
been converted free whole years, and what's 
de use ob troublin' one's self about dat dead 
old corpse, what de Lord hab buried, clean 
out of sight. Dis yere old coon's de new 
Csesar Johnson, what de Lord hab raised 
up out ob de corpse ob dat old sinner." 

Now, this old slave had a firm hold of the 
truth of our text. He knew what Christian 
planting was. The old nature had been bur- 
ied in the likeness of Christ's death, and the 
new nature was appearing or growing, in the 
likeness of Christ's resurrection. 

II. 

The other lesson of our subject is, the mean- 
ing of Christian growing. 

Sometimes seeds which are planted do not 
grow. Our Lord explains this to us, in the 
parable of the sower, when he said, u Some 
seed fell by the way-side, and the fowls of 



Planting and Growing. 113 

the air came and devoured it up; some fell 
upon stony places where they had not much 
earth, and because they had no roots they with- 
ered away. And some fell among thorns, and 
the thorns sprang up and choked them; and 
other fell into good ground and brought forth 
fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, 
some thirtyfold." 

There may be something wrong in the seed, 
or something wrong with the sower, or else 
the ground may be hard and stony. But 
there can be no growth, no life of the plant, 
without the death of the seed in the ground, 
first of all. And this is because there is an- 
other kind of life, hidden away in the folds 
of the seed, which can only be brought out 
by the death or breaking up of the seed. You 
may take a piece of coal, or a marble, or a 
diamond, or a jack-knife, or a compass, or 
a flatiron, and plant them in the ground, 
and there they will stay till the day of doom. 
They will never come up of themselves. You 
may plant them, and water them, and build 
a hot-house over them, and get a good, moist 



114 The Palace Beautiful. 

air on them, but they will never grow into 
any thing. They have not got another na- 
ture, another side of their life. There is no 
wonderful power of another life, wrapped up 
in the folds of their being. When you put 
them into the ground, there they will stay 
forever. They have got no other kind of 
life in them, which death, or planting will 
bring out. They have no seeds in them of 
any thing more: therefore they can not 
grow. 

When I was a boy in the country, there 
was a certain old farmer I knew, who always 
used to nail up on his big red barn-door, the 
bats he killed and the hawks he shot. He 
said he did this to keep the other bats and 
hawks away. There they were, nailed up 
all over bis barn-door, poor things! Many 
a time I have stopped and watched them, 
nailed up as a warning to other bats and 
hawks, to keep away from that farmer's land. 
And there they stayed till they rotted away. 

Now, my dear children, those poor hawks 
and bats were nailed to the barn-door, but 



Planting and Growing. 115 

there was no other side to their nature to 
rise again. They had no immortal spirits; 
they could be killed, or buried in the 
ground, but they never could rise again. 
There was nothing in them to rise. But 
we, my dear children, like the seed-corn, 
have another life hidden in this life. There 
is another side to us. There is something 
in us which will grow. When the old na- 
ture is buried or planted, the new nature 
comes out of it — -just as the flower comes 
out of the seed; just as the waving corn 
with its strong, yellow stalk and silvery tas- 
sels, comes out of the old seed which is sown 
in the furrows. But we have got to strug- 
gle with our old selves; we must bury our 
old evil nature; and then from this buried 
or planted seed, the new growth will come, 
a new nature will appear. We must crucify 
our old evil desires, just as the bats and 
hawks were nailed to the barn-door, and 
then the other life, the Christian life, will 
be ours. For "If we have been planted to- 
gether in the likeness of Christ's death, we 



116 The Palace Beautiful. 

shall be also in the likeness of his resur- 
rection." 

And this is what the apostle Paul means 
by Christian planting and Christian growing. 

When we say, in the Apostles' Creed, that 
we believe in the resurrection of the body, 
we mean that we believe death, is just like 
the seed being put into the ground. Some- 
thing comes out of death: something springs 
forth out of the body. "God giveth it a 
body as it hath pleased him, and to every 
seed its own body." And when St. Paul 
says, "That which thou sowest, thou sow- 
est not that body that shall be, but bare 
grain, it may chance, of wheat or of some 
other grain," he means simply this: When 
you sow, you don't sow ears of corn, or 
sheaves of wheat, or bunches of flowers; 
you sow one grain of corn, or one piece 
of wheat, or one flower-seed, and out of 
the one little seed all the rich life comes, 
the ear of corn, the tassel of wheat, the 
beautiful flower. 

There are three steps in all plant-life. 



Planting and* Growing. 117 

There are the seed, the planting, and the 
growth. And there are three steps in the 
Christian life. There is this life as the seed ; 
death as the planting; and immortality as 
the growth. 

And in this way, the world of Nature in 
the springtime, becomes to us, if we rightly 
read it, a great picture or object-lesson, such 
as they have in kindergartens, of what death 
and the resurrection really are. 

One of the most wonderful pictures of the 
doctrine of the resurrection, which we find 
about us in the world is, the way the seven- 
teen-year locusts behave. These locusts come 
out of the ground, once in every seventeen 
years. What they do in the ground, or why 
they only come once in seventeen years, we 
do not know. They come up out of the 
ground in the spring of the year, seventeen 
years after they appeared before. When 
they come, they have great horny, brown 
cases, something like a leather spectacle 
case. They look like the vanilla nuts, which 
boys like to buy at candy and fruit stalls. 



118 The Palace Beautiful. 

When they first get out of the ground, they 
move very slowly and heavily, as if it was 
hard work to walk ; which 1 suppose it must 
be, after a sleep of seventeen years. Then 
they make for the nearest tree, and climb 
up it as far as they can, holding on by their 
feet, in very much the same w r ay that the 
men who mend the telegraph wires, climb 
up the poles, with spikes in their shoes. 
If you watch them, you can see them try- 
ing to break their hard, horny coverings. 
They have a hard time at first, but, after a 
while — after trying a good many times — all 
of a sudden, they rip open their shell, and 
out they come, — beautiful glossy creatures, 
with gauzy wings, and elegant legs, and 
feelers, and big, bright, dazzling eyes; and 
up they go into the branches of the trees, 
flying about in the sunlight, and giving a 
whir-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r, and a whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z- 
z-z-z, that sounds like a watchman's rattle. 
They have thrown off the old body — you 
can pick up the old horny shell, the specta- 
cle-case as I called it; and now they are 



Planting and Growing. 119 

new creatures, living an entirely different 
life, as they sing and chirp and sound their 
watchmen's rattles, in their new life, among 
the leaves and branches of the trees. 

And this waking up of the seventeen-year 
locusts to their new life, reminds me of a 
fable I once read, with which I will end 
this sermon. 

In a shady pond in a meadow, with the 
beech-trees and the weeping willows bend- 
ing over it, there lived, along with the dif- 
ferent fish and the frogs, a whole colony of 
little water-grubs. One of these little grubs, 
who was of a more inquiring mind than the 
others, asked his companions one day, what 
became of the old Frog who lived near 
them under a stone, when he hopped up, 
and up, and up, and finally jumped altogether 
out of the pond. The grubs didn't know. 
Some of them said they didn't care. What 
did it matter where the frogs went to? 
What was the use of troubling themselves 
about it ? They would only waste their time, 
and besides this, they would very probably 



120 The Palace Beautiful. 

lose getting things to eat, if they stopped 
to inquire about such things. Just then a 
Minnow came swimming by, and the poor 
little Water-Grub asked him if he believed 
there was another world. 

" Another world?" said the Minnow, "an- 
other world ? How do I know ? I have nev- 
er been there. This pond is world enough 
for me." 

So at last, the Water-Grub went and asked 
the old Frog all about it. 

The Frog sat down in his cavern under 
the stone, blinked his eyes, stretched his 
mouth, smiled at the Grub and said, "Ge- 
dunk, gedunk ! What do you want to know 
for?" 

The little Grub told the Frog, how he had 
often wondered where he went to, when he 
jumped out of the pond, and whether there 
really was another world besides the pond. 
So the good-natured Frog tried to explain to 
the Grub what it was like. But the Grub 
could not understand what the Frog meant 
by air. 



Planting and Growing. 121 

" Air — air ! " he said to himself. " What 
can air be? And dry land, and trees and 
blue sky — oh dear me ! " said the poor little 
Grub. " I never, never can understand what 
these things are! Are they any thing like 
the mud at the bottom of our pond ? " 

"Pshaw!" said the Frog; "you think every 
thing must be made of mud. Mud and 
water are all that you know any thing 
about. So you see I can never explain it 
to you." 

Hereupon the little Grub proposed that he 
should get on the Frog's back, and take a 
leap with him out of the pond some day, 
and see the other world for himself. The 
Frog agreed to this. The next day the 
Grub consented to go. He bade his friends 
good-by, and mounted himself on the Frog's 
broad back, and up they went — up — up — 
up — and splash out of the pond. 

" Well, how do you like it up here ? " asked 
the Frog. He looked all around him, but 
there was no Grub. " He's a pretty fellow," 
said the Frog, "to go back on me, after I 



122 The Palace Beautiful. 

carried him up so far! But that's just the 
way with those miserable grubs ! " 

The next day, when the Frog went back 
to his stone house in the pond, he hunted 
up the Grub. "You're a pretty fellow ! " said 
the Frog. "What did you mean by disap- 
pointing me so ? " 

"Oh," said the Grub, "I never felt any 
thing so strange in my life ! I couldn't 
breathe! I felt as if I was dying. I be- 
lieve we poor grubs would all die, if we 
should do as you do. I don't believe there 
is any other world, after all. I think death 
must be the end of all things." 

The Frog was so disgusted with the grubs, 
that he hopped off to another part of the 
pond, and decided to live there. 

A few days after this, the Water-Grub's 
eldest brother said he had very strange feel- 
ings. Something seemed to compel him to 
climb up one of the tall bulrushes. He said 
his eyes and head felt so large, that he was 
afraid he should burst. So he began to 
climb up the bulrush-stem. "I feel," said 



Planting and Growing. 123 

he, " as if something very strange was going 
to happen. Something tells me I must climb 
up this long stalk, and that when I get up 
to the top I shall become a — " Here he be- 
came silent. 

"Oh, promise us, promise us if there is 
another world," said the little Grub, "you 
will come back and tell us. Oh promise us 
this.' , 

"I will," said the big Grub. 

11 Solemnly ? " asked the little brother. 

" Solemnly ! " repeated the Grub. 

But he never came back. They watched 
him getting nearer and nearer to the top of 
the pond ; then he seemed to go into a bunch 
of thick white cotton, and that was the last 
they ever saw of him. 

A month afterwards the next brother said 
that something was the matter with him too. 
He felt something within him, telling him 
that he must climb up a lily-stem. But he 
promised them, on his word of honor, that 
if he ever did get into the other world, and 
was really alive there, he would not deceive 



124 The Palace Beautiful. 

them: he would surely come back and tell 
them all about it. 

And he disappeared. 

But they never heard from him, or saw 
him again. 

Many other water-grubs went up the long 
bulrushes, in the same way, but not one of 
them ever came back. The poor little Grub 
despaired. The Frog wouldn't tell him : none 
of the wise-looking sunfish and perch would 
tell him. The trifling little Minnow, who 
was making fun all the time, laughed at the 
Grub. His brothers and sisters who went 
up the tall stems, all broke their word, and 
never came back again. 

But one day the little Grub's head began 
to ache. His eyes felt like fire. He did 
not know what was the matter, but he too 
found himself holding on to a lily-stem. Up 
he went — and up — and up — until it all be- 
came dark and narrow; and he fell asleep 
in a warm pad of silky covering. And he 
slept, and slept. 



Planting and Growing. 125 

"Yes," said a splendid dragon-fly with, 
gossamer wings, and shining, golden head, 
and eyes like diamonds, as he went flying 
over the water, "I was once a poor little 
Grub, down in the nmd at the bottom of 
that pond." 

"Yes," said his brothers; "and now you 
know why we couldn't come back to you. 
We were not lost: we were only gone before." 

The poor little Water-Grub had become a 
magnificent dragon-fly. He had died to his 
old life as a grub, and had risen to a new 
life as a dragon-fly. 

What is all this fable, my dear children, 
but a picture of our own lives ? Here we are 
in our lower world. We wonder about the 
world that is above this. " We desire a bet- 
ter country, even an heavenly." We ask 
those who live only for this world, about 
the world to come, and they say, "This 
world is all." But then, in our hearts, we 
know this is not all. We know that death 
is not the end of us. We know that Jesus 



126 The Palace Beautiful. 

Christ came to show us the way to God and 
heaven. We know that if we are like him, 
we shall see him as he is: that if we have 
been planted together in the likeness of his 
death, we shall be also in the likeness of 
his resurrection. And so we ask, with Job 
of old, " If a man die, shall he live again ? " 
And like him we say U A11 the days of my 
appointed time will I wait, till my change 
come." 



VI. 

tart);. 



STARCH. 

"Him by himself: .... them by themselves, .... and 
the Egyptians by themselves.'' — Genesis xliii. 32. 

Qft HAVE called the name of this sermon 
(§J u Starch." I do not really mean to talk 
to you about that stiffening which is put 
into our linen, and into our collars and cuffs, 
which we call starch ; but only to take this as 
the symbol, or image, of stiffness in general. 
You know when linen clothes are washed, 
they look all dragged and rough after they 
are dried ; then they have starch put on 
them, and they are sprinkled and ironed. 
The starch makes them stiff and smooth and 
glossy. We want our collars and cuffs to be 
starched; but we do not want to have starch 
upon our pocket-handkerchiefs. Starch has 
its place; but it is not to be used on every 
thing. 



130 The Palace Beautiful. 

Now, there is a certain kind of stiffness 
which people have in the world, which is 
very good in itself, at times, but is not 
meant to be used continually. It keeps peo- 
ple apart, when they ought to come together; 
it makes men and women hard and mechan- 
ical, when they ought to be easy and nat- 
ural; it causes persons to be self-conscious 
and restrained, when they ought to forget 
themselves, and think of others; it makes 
men and women as stiff* and unwieldy, as 
the old knights were, in their steel armor; 
it is a spirit which is just like a cast for 
plaster, or a mould for ice-cream; it came 
originally from Egypt, the land of mummies 
and obelisks; it is found to-day in India, 
among the religion of the Brahmins, and it 
has its place among us, in what is called 
society. It is called caste; it is the mould 
or pattern, people are supposed to be made 
in. It is a very stiff thing, and so I have 
called it starch. 

But let me tell you the story of our text. 

These words to-day, give us the descrip- 



Starch. 131 

tion of a dinner-party. It does not seem as 
if the guests were having a very good time. 
They sat at different tables, as we do at a 
restaurant or hotel; and it must have been 
a pretty stiff kind of meal. " Him by him- 
self: .... them by themselves, .... and the 
Egyptians by themselves." 

This caste, or mould, or starch, was an 
invention of the Egyptians. They were a 
wonderful people in many ways. They had 
all kinds of curious customs. Egypt is the 
strangest, most mysterious, country to-day. 
People go there now to see the pyramids, 
and the sphinx, and the needles or obelisks, 
and statues and ruined temples. All the 
nations of the ancient world have tramped 
over Egypt, and to-day the French and the 
English, have made Egypt, a canal-route to 
India. The civilization of the world seems 
to have bubbled up out of the sands of 
Egypt, and spread over the world, just as 
some little spring, in a leafy dell in the for- 
est, spreads out into a brook, which runs 
into the river, and the river into the ocean. 



132 The Palace Beautiful. 

The Pharaohs were powerful kings ; they 
built canals, and granaries, and temples, and 
palaces. The people of Egypt worshipped 
certain sacred animals, and had a most elab- 
orate system of worship. Then the entire 
population was divided into separate layers, 
or moulds, or types. Each set had to keep to 
itself, like the dwellers in apartments, in our 
seven-story flats and hotels to-day. There 
was no mixing of the people together, no 
mingling in society. The slaves lived down 
in the cellar of Egypt, and worked and 
were beaten in the fields ; the mechanics 
lived on the first floor; the shepherds on 
the second, the farmers on the third floor; 
the doctors, writers, philosophers, and ma- 
gicians, on the fourth floor; the priests on 
the fifth floor ; the nobility, or lords, upon the 
sixth floor; the royal family on the seventh 
floor; and far up in the lonely cupola of the 
kingdom, Pharaoh the king lived. Each set 
lived on Us own floor, and had nothing to do 
with the others. 

So it came to pass, when Joseph's brethren 



Starch. 133 

came to see their brother, who was now gov- 
ernor of Egypt, during the great famine, they 
could not go right in, and say, "How do 
you do, Joseph? We have come down to 
take dinner with you." 

Not a bit of it ! They were only shepherds, 
and the hotel elevator, had to stop and leave 
them out on the third landing-place in Egyp- 
tian society. Joseph was very glad to see 
his brethren, and tried to do all he could to 
make his wicked brothers feel at home. But 
the Egyptian customs had to be observed. 
He could not break through the caste of 
society. The dinner napkins, and table-cloth, 
were stiffened with starch. And this is the 
way they had their stiff Thanksgiving dinner. 

These were his words — u And, he . . . 
said, Set on bread. And they set on for him 
by himself: and for them by themselves, and 
for the Egyptians which did eat with him, 
by themselves : because the Egyptians might 
not eat bread with the Hebrews: for that is 
an abomination unto the Egyptians. And 
they sat before him, the first-born accord- 



134 The Palace Beautiful. 

ing to his birthright, and the youngest ac- 
cording to his youth : and the men marvelled 
one at another. And he took and sent 
messes unto them from before him: but 
Benjamin's mess was five times so much 
as any of theirs. And they drank and 
were merry before him." 

It seems, by this, that all the good things 
were put on Joseph's table first, and he sent 
his brethren, over at their side-tables, plates 
full of food from his table; and he took es- 
pecial care that his poor little brother Ben- 
jamin, who was his own mother's child, and 
was an innocent little fellow, and had never 
been mixed up with his brothers' wicked- 
ness, should receive five times as much as 
the others. This was enough to have made 
little Benjamin sick; but I suppose those 
hungry, famished brethren, were quite ade- 
quate to the occasion. We read that the 
men "marvelled." Whether they marvelled 
at the Egyptians' manners, or at the sepa- 
rate tables, or at the elegance of the feast, 
or the quantity of the food, we are not told. 



Starch. 135 

I think Joseph's brethren must have felt 
out of place at this dinner. They must have 
looked at their brother Joseph, in his elegant 
robes, and must have contrasted him as he 
was now, with what he was as a shepherd 
boy, hunting for them in Dothan, when they 
put him into the pit, and killed the kid with 
which to stain his coat of many colors. Then 
they must have thought of their own rough, 
shabby clothes, and of their wicked conduct 
to their brother, whom they sold into Egypt, 
and the trouble they gave their father, whose 
life they had made miserable. One curious 
thing, to show the power of this feeling of 
caste which the Egyptians had, was Joseph's 
advice to his father, before he took old Jacob 
in to present him to Pharaoh the king. He 
did not want his father to say that he was 
a shepherd, for there had been an invasion 
of Egypt, some years before, by a marauding 
band of robbers, who called themselves the 
shepherd kings, and the people of Egypt 
did not like the word shepherd at all; so 
Joseph said to his father, "It shall come to 



136 The Palace Beautiful. 

pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall 
say, What is your occupation ? That ye shall 
say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cat- 
tle from our youth even until now, both we, 
and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in 
the land of Goshen; for every- shepherd is 
an abomination unto the Egyptians." Thus, 
you see, these Egyptians had abominations 
at every turn. The moment one set of peo- 
ple met another set, which was not their 
set, there was trouble, because the third- 
story men were an abomination to the 
fourth -story people, and the fourth -story 
people were an abomination unto the fifth- 
story persons, and so the trouble went on. 
Now, all that was the matter with Egypt 
was that it had too much caste — too much 
starch — too much stiffness. Play, work, din- 
ner-parties, companies, temple-worship, every 
thing had too much starch in it, and was 
stiffened up too much. 

So our sermon to-day is about stiffness. 



Starch. 137 

I. 

First of all, I want to speak to you about 
stiffness at home. 

It is always right for us to honor our pa- 
rents and relatives. There is a respect which 
is due to those who are our elders and su- 
periors, only we do not want to have com- 
pany manners all the time at home. Some- 
times elder sisters and brothers, try to make 
the younger members of the family treat 
them, as grown-up people treat them out in 
the world. But there is only one way to 
have a happy and united family, and that 
is in ruling by love. We must not be stiff 
at home; that is the place for freedom and 
tenderness and sympathy. It is in the power 
of an elder sister to help forward a younger 
sister, by making a companion of her, and 
by taking an interest in her books and plays 
and friends. It does not do for a big brother 
or an elder sister, to say that Mary or Tom- 
my or the little ones belong to " another 
get." 

" Why don't you play with your brother, 



138 The Palace Beautiful. 

Paul?" asked a mother of her son, who said 
he had no one to play with. 

"Oh, he's so little, he don't know any- 
thing at all!" said Paul; "he don't belong 
to our crowd" 

Here you see this same old Egyptian stiff- 
ness of our text. " Him by himself: . . . 
and them by themselves, . . . and the 
Egyptians by themselves." 

And big girls in a family have very often 
a great idea of what they call "propriety," 
and instead of helping along their little sis- 
ters, keep them back by telling them they 
are too young to know any thing, and are 
not old enough to go out into company. 

Dear children, don't find fault with the 
little folks at home; don't keep them away 
from you; don't have "sets" at home. Very 
soon you will all be out in life, each one for 
yourself, and your respective ages then will 
not be noticed. One brother may be suc- 
cessful, and another may fail; one sister may 
have happiness, and another may have sor- 
row; and then you will look back on your 



Starch. 139 

childhood, and it will be a sad remembrance, 
to think that even then, you were like Jo- 
seph's brethren at the Egyptian dinner-party, 
and went in sets, apart from one another. 

II. 

Another kind of stiffness is, the stiffness of 
society. When we meet people at companies, 
or on the street, some seem easy to talk to, 
and others seem very hard to get on with. 
Some people make us forget ourselves, and 
our talk goes on like a wind-mill when a 
strong breeze is blowing, while others only 
say, "Yes?" "Indeed?" "Ah?" and make 
us feel conscious that we are talking, as 
it were, up hill or against the current. 

Now, my dear children, no matter who 
it is we are talking to, whether the person 
is rich or poor, high or low, ignorant or 
learned, we all ought to remember these 
three rules, — 

1st. Always he polite. 

2d. Never wound peoples feelings. 

3d. Try to make others happy. 



140 The Palace Beautiful. 

How do we know what our influence will 
be ? How do we know that we shall ever see 
them again? How do we know but that 
they or we may some time be in trouble, 
and may h&ve need of one another? It's 
all well enough to be bright and funny, 
only we ought to guard ourselves against 
saying or doing things which hurt peo- 
ple's feelings, and will stick in their mem- 
ory and never be forgotten. 

I remember a funny story which one min- 
ister told about another, at his expense 
as a preacher, which he forgot, but which 
the persons to whom he told it always 
remembered, and went on telling, until 
it was always fastened to the poor man, 
and actually kept him from rising in the 
world. We can not be too careful about 
this. 

One day a gentleman was walking along 
the street with President Washington, when 
a colored man passed by, and took off his 
hat. General Washington politely returned 
the bow. 



Starch. 141 

11 What ! " said his friend, " do you return 
the bow of a slave ? " 

"Certainly," replied the president. u You 
would not have me be less polite than a 
poor negro ? " 

Some years ago there was in England, a 
poet and painter who drew the most curious 
sketches, full of power, and yet very singu- 
lar, and wrote some very remarkable poems. 
People say that he was half crazy. His 
name was William Blake. I shall never for- 
get two of his poems. One was about a lit- 
tle lamb, and the other was about a little 
black boy. These are the words about — 

THE LITTLE BLACK BOY. 

"My mother bore me in the southern wild, 
And I am black; but, oh, my soul is white ! 
White as an angel is the English child, 
But I am black— as if bereaved of light. 

"My mother taught me underneath a tree, 
And, sitting down before the heat of day 
She took me on her lap, and kissed me; 
And, pointing to the east, began to say,— 



142 >The Palace Beautiful. 

"'Look on the rising sun — there God does live, 
And gives his light, and gives his heat away; 
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive 
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday. 

"'And we are put on earth a little space, 

That we may learn to bear the beams of love; 
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face 
Are but a cloud, and like a shady grove. 

"'For when our souls have learned the heat to bear, 

The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice 

Saying, "Come from the grove, my love and care, 

And round my golden tents like lambs rejoice.' 

"Thus did my mother say, and kissed me; 
And thus I say to little English boy, — 
When I from black and he from white cloud free, 
And round the tent of God like lambs rejoice, 

"I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear 
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee; 
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair, 
And be like him, and he will then love me." 

Now, God has told us that he is no re- 
specter of persons. When Simon Peter had 
his vision at Joppa, of the great sheet let 
down from heaven, with all kinds of living 



Starch 143 

creatures in it, he heard a voice saying to 
him, "What God hath cleansed, that call not 
thou common." And yet we very often call 
people who do not go with our set, or live 
in our street, or dress in fine clothes, "com- 
mon." There is a great deal of this kind of 
Egyptian stiffness about. 

Here in Boston the other day, on Thanks- 
giving Day, the young gentlemen who are 
in charge of the Newsboys' Eeading Eoom, 
gave all the newsboys of the city a dinner, 
in the gymnasium of the Technological In- 
stitute. Two hundred hungry little fellows 
sat down to an elegant dinner of turkeys, 
pies, puddings, ice-cream, and all kinds of 
good things. The young ladies waited on 
them, and a number of visitors came in, to 
see the boys have a good time on Thanks- 
giving Day. I heard one little fellow sigh 
to think he couldn't eat any longer, and a 
lot of the boys stood up and ran around, so 
as to make room for more. But it was not 
altogether like Joseph's dinner-party, for 
they all sat at one table. AVhen the ice- 



144 The Palace Beautiful. 

cream came on, some of the boys passed 
on the brown chocolate ice-cream, to the 
one little colored boy who was there. 

" That's his color," they said. " That's for 
him," 

"Yes," said the poor little colored fellow, 
" that's my color; that's for me. But it's ice- 
cream, anyhow." And he went right to work 
on his chocolate ice-cream. You see, even 
those newsboys had hold of the Egyptian 
idea, in their society on Thanksgiving Day, 
— "him by himself," and "them by them- 
selves." 

III. 

The third kind of stiffness of which I shall 
speak to-day is, the stiffness of religion. 

Ever since I have been a minister, people 
have complained in every church where I 
have served, because other people did not 
speak to them, and were unsociable. This 
seems sometimes very hard, but it can only 
be changed when people learn to have the 
spirit of the Master in their hearts. 



Starch. 145 

A minister once preached to his congrega- 
tion on the duty of trying to make strangers 
feel at home in church, and of cultivating a 
friendly spirit with their fellow worshippers. 
After service the senior warden of the parish, 
one of the best men that ever lived, thought 
he would begin to practice what he had just 
heard ; so he said to a lady who had recently 
taken the pew in front of him, 

" I am very glad, madam, to welcome you 
to our church. I hope you will find it a true 
home for your family." 

The lady drew herself up, like a horse with 
a tight check-rein on, and said, as she swept 
past him, "I believe, sir, I have never been 
introduced to you; when I want to be, I will 
let you know." 

Starch, you see, even in the house of God ! 
" Them by themselves, and the Egyptians by 
themselves." 

And then see how much stiffness we have, 
in our feelings towards those who do not go 
to our church, or believe in all points just as 
we do. 



146 The Palace Beautiful. 

Away up in Scotland, in days gone by, 
every tribe and clan had their own song or 
air, which was played on their own bagpipe. 
No clan ever played any song but its own. 
The songs of the other tribes were unknown 
and uncared for. And so to-day, my dear 
children, we are too apt only to sing our own 
tune, and know only our own little tribe- 
song, instead of being able to sing the great 
songs of Zion which belong to us all. 

So then, beware of this stiffness, this caste, 
this starch — at home, in society, and in re- 
ligion. Out in the world, as the world is 
made up to-day, there must be forms, and 
ceremonies, and customs, in public life. We 
can not overturn the customs of the world, 
as we find them fixed by what are called the 
laws of society. It would not be well to do 
so, even if we could ; for they are like dikes 
on the sea-shore, to keep out the destroying 
waves. But there is quite enough of this 
stiffness, out in the world to-day. What we 
want to do, then, is to keep our hearts fresh 



Starch. 147 

and kind and tender. We want to look on 
the bright side of life ; we want to look at our 
fellow-men at their best, as Mr. Lincoln said, 
44 With malice towards none, and with charity 
to all;" we ought to want to help and bless 
our fellow-men, and make the world better 
and brighter for our being in it. St. Paul 
once said, "If any man have not the spirit 
of Christ, he is none of his." This is the 
test for us all. 

"Dispensing good where'er he went, 
The labors of his life were love: 
Then if we bear the Saviour's name 
By his example let us move." 



VII. 



k i it g at tju (Kb tit. 



LOOKING AT THE CLOCK. 

"And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?" 
Gen. xlvii. 8. 

fITTLE children are always very proud 
of being able to tell what time it is 
by the clock It takes us some years before 
we learn how to tell the time. It is hard to 
remember that the little hand only goes over 
the face of the clock once in twelve hours, 
and the big hand once an hour. We guess 
what time it is, long before we are able to 
know what time it is. 

When a boy or a girl can look at the clock, 
and say the hour right off, then they are no 
longer little children. We can play clock, 
with the white thistles, blowing off the 
fleecy tips, and saying "twelve o'clock," 
"ten o'clock," "eight o'clock "—according to 
the number that remain en the round ball. 



152 The Palace Beautiful. 

But then this is only play. The sea captain 
in mid ocean, finds out just where his vessel 
is, and what the true time is, by taking his 
observations with the sextant: an instru- 
ment which enables him to look up at the 
sun, and find just where the sun is, on his 
maps. Before clocks were invented, King 
Alfred, in England, discovered a way of tell- 
ing the hours of the day, by means of a 
candle, which burned so many sections in 
the course of twenty-four hours. He put 
his hour candle in a horn lantern, to keep 
it from being blown out, and this was the 
way they told the time, in the palaces and 
monasteries in England. Then, long before 
clocks were invented, people had hour-glasses 
— such as little girls have now-a-days, when 
they practice upon the piano. This is what 
the old poets mean, by the sands of life run 
ning out, or running slowly. But the ear 
liest way of telling the time, was by the sun- 
dial. This was the way the ancients knew 
what time it was. We read about the sun 
dial in the Bible. When King Hezekiah was 



Looking at the Clock. 153 

sick unto death, Isaiah the prophet received 
a message from God, telling him that his 
prayers were heard, and that he would surely 
recover, and that the shadow on the sun- 
dial, would go back fifteen degrees as a sign. 
But then a sun-dial is not as good as a 
clock, because it is of no use in the dark or 
on a stormy day. But if boys are camping 
out, or want to know what time it is with 
out going to the house, or if no one in the 
party has a watch, it is very easy to make a 
sun-dial, that will let you know the time. 
When I was a boy and used to play camp- 
ing out, we made a sun-dial on the ground, 
and this is the way to do it. First take a 
broomstick and drive it in the ground; then 
draw or dig lines around it, and by the help 
of a watch find out the length of the shad- 
ows. The shadows will be the longest at six 
and eight o'clock, and at one o'clock, there 
will be no shadow at all. At midday the 
sun will be right over the stick or stake in 
the ground. It is just like one's shadow go- 
ing past a gas-lamp, in the street, at night. 



154 The Palace Beautiful. 

At first, when one is right by the light, there 
is no shadow at all; but as we go away from 
the light, our shadows grow bigger and big- 
ger, until they look like the forms of giants. 
Many of these old-fashioned sun-dials have 
very curious mottoes on them. There is one 
in Venice with this motto. " Horas non 
numero nisi serenas" — "I number none but 
the bright hours;" meaning that the sun- 
dial, did not make any account of the dark 
or stormy days. 

At Stirling Castle, in Scotland, in the old 
graveyard there, near the famous tomb of 
the martyrs, there is a sun-dial with this 
motto under it — 

"I am a shadow: 
So art thou ! 
I mark time: 
Dost thou?" 

When I saw this motto, two years ago in 
Scotland, I made a note of it in my diary, 
and determined to write a sermon for chil- 
dren about " Looking at the Clock." 



Looking at the Clock. 155 

Looking at the clock teaches us two les- 
sons: keeping the clock right, and minding 
the clock when it is set. 



First comes the duty of keeping the dock 
right 

When Charles the Vth, the great emperor 
of Germany, abdicated his throne in favor 
of his son Philip Ilnd, he retired to a country 
villa, and began to amuse himself with his 
garden and his workshop. He had a great 
number of clocks in his country palace, and 
he took it into his head, to try and make 
them keep exactly the same time. But they 
could not be made to strike the hour to- 
gether at the exact moment. 

One day, when his son the king, came to 
see him, and complained of the trouble he 
had in managing the affairs of the empire, 
and making his Spanish, German, and Dutch 
subjects be at peace together, the old em- 
peror said, 

"Well, if I can not make my wooden 



156 The Palace Beautiful. 

clocks strike time together, I don't suppose 
you can succeed any better with yours." 

It is very hard work to keep four or five 
clocks in a house right. One will go too 
fast, another will go too slow, one will stop 
going, and another will go wrong. And 
then the hours get all wrong, and the cuc- 
koo clocks won't sing, or will sing twelve, 
at one o'clock, or ten, at half past two. They 
have all of them to be regulated, and cleaned 
and oiled, and looked into every little while. 
Every thing in a clock depends upon being 
wound up, and upon having the pendulum 
set right. One turn of the pendulum's screw 
too high or too low will make the clock run 
too fast or too slow. It is a very difficult 
matter to keep it just right. Even the 
watch-makers have to keep watching the 
clocks for some time, which are sent to them 
to be repaired on purpose to watch them, and 
keep them going just right. When we try 
to tinker at our clocks, and take out the 
wheels and screws for ourselves, we have a 
hard time of it. But when they are once set 



Looking at the Clock. 157 

right and are regulated, then it is our fault if 
we fail to wind them up, or do not set them 
by the town clock. If we want to know 
what the true time is, we must keep the 
clock right. 

II. 

The other thing to do in looking at the 
clock is, to mind it when it is set 

There was a minister once, who had a 
great many public engagements, but who 
always came in late. He would hurry to 
church, and hurry to his engagements all 
out of breath, and on a jog trot. His life 
was made miserable, and no one could de- 
pend upon him, simply because he was ab- 
sent-minded, and would get interested in 
reading or writing, and never would look 
at the clock. It used to keep his wife very 
busy, calling out to him, for he was a little 
deaf, "Look at the clock, Mr. Jones! Look 
at the clock ! " Then Mr. Jones would jump 
up, pick up his sermon, pull on his boots, 
and run all out of breath to church. Now 



158 The Palace Beautiful. 

not to mind the clock, is a dreadful habit 
to get into. 

Punctuality, or the habit of being prompt 
and up to time, is worth hundreds of dollars 
to us, in the course of our lives. When we 
lose one hour in the morning, we have hard 
work in finding it again in the course of 
the day. The captains of ocean steamers, 
when they sail for Europe, want to be off 
at the very minute, for minutes make up 
hours, and hours make up days, and hours 
lost, mean days lost, on the voyage. Or look 
at our express trains ! They travel on time, 
as it is called. The express train between 
Boston and New York, must be at Worcester 
at such a time, and at Springfield at an- 
other, at Hartford at another, at New Haven 
at another time : and I have seen these trains, 
travelling two hundred and thirty miles in 
eight hours, coming into the depot on the 
very moment they were due. And all this 
success, comes from minding the clock. If 
we mind the clock when we get up, and 
mind the clock in going to school, and mind 



Looking at the Clock. 159 

the clock at our meals, we will be laying 
down the best possible habits for our after 
life. 

There was a lawyer once who wanted to 
become a politician, and run for office. Bat 
he was so careless in his habits, and was 
so late and uncertain in his office, and at 
meetings, that he never succeeded in being 
elected to any thing. At last he ran for 
mayor of the city, and was elected by one 
vote. When the time came for him to be 
sworn into office — the hour fixed for the cer- 
emony was at twelve o'clock — the judge who 
was to administer the oath, and the city 
officials were all present, but there was no 
mayor. The band of music kept on play- 
ing, and the officials kept looking at their 
watches, and at five minutes of one, in 
walked the new mayor. The judge, who 
was an old friend of the newly -elected 
mayor, for they had been boys together 
at boarding school, said as he came in, 
" Here comes your new -mayor, the late 
mayor as usual, for whether it's his dinner 



160 The Palace Beautiful. 

he is to eat, or his oath he is to take, or 
his election at the polls, he always gets in 
by one." 

I knew a boy who was always late at 
breakfast. No matter at what hour he went 
to bed, he was always late in coming down- 
stairs. At last he promised he would get 
up, if his father would only buy him an 
alarm clock. So on his next birthday he 
had a beautiful alarm clock given to him. 
The next morning, at six o'clock, it made 
a terrible clatter on his table, enough to 
waken a whole regiment of soldiers, and 
Jack thought it was very fine. How nicely 
it did go off, but there was no use in get- 
ting up just then; it was very early, and 
very cold; what an elegant clock it was; 
it was very fine indeed; and in a few 
moments off he went, snoring away like a 
saw-mill. And in one month's time, simply 
because Jack did not mind his new clock, 
he did not hear it, and it was of no more 
use to him, than if he had never wound 
it up at all. 



Looking at the Clock. 161 

These then, are the two lessons which we 
learn from looking at the clock. 

We must keep the clock set right; and 

We must mind the clock when it is set. 

Perhaps you may wonder what the text 
has to do with the sermon to-day. It may 
seem as if they were no relations, and not 
even friends. But this question of Pharaoh 
to Jacob, is just as if he had said, u What is 
the time by your clock ? " 

Pharaoh must have been an old man by 
this time. He was an Egyptian, and knew 
nothing of the revelation from God, which 
had come to Jacob. When the old patri- 
arch came down at the time of the famine, 
to visit his son Joseph, who was governor 
over all the land of Egypt, and was feeding 
the people so wonderfully, he was taken in 
to see the king. And as the king on his 
throne looked on the venerable patriarch, 
standing before him, with his sons and his 
grandchildren about him, he said unto Jacob, 
"How old art thou? And Jacob told him 
that he was an hundred and thirty years old." 



162 The Palace Beautiful. 

When we say, "What time is it?" we 
mean how old is the day, or how long has 
the sun been up? What hour of the day, 
means how old is the day ? And so in very 
much this same way, when we ask a per- 
son how old he is, we mean how far has he 
got on in life. Some children are what are 
called old for their years — that is, they seem 
older than they really are, while others shoot 
up like Jack in the bean-stalk, and perhaps 
are only nine, when we think they are 
thirteen years old. 

When we are children, we like to have 
our clocks go fast. Every boy, when you 
ask him this question Pharaoh asked Ja- 
cob, "How old art thou?" sets his clock 
ahead. He is "seven growing on eight," 
or he is "half past nine," or "ten growing 
on eleven." But when we get older, we 
like to put the clock back. We always say 
how old we are from our last birthday, and 
not from our coming one. We are not in 
a hurry to say we are fifty-nine growing on 
to sixty, or sixty-nine growing on to seventy. 



Looking at the Clock. 163 

The clock of life which used to gallop ahead, 
now lags behind. 

It is not only our years then, which tell 
the story of how old we are. I have seen 
some little girls, ten years of age, who were 
of more use in the world, and were really 
older in their lives, than some young ladies 
of twenty. 

I remember once going to see a poor wo- 
man who was dying. She had six little 
children. The oldest was named Katie, and 
was eleven years old, and the youngest was 
a little baby. Katie took care of her mother 
all the time she was ill, and watched her till 
she died. Then after her mothers death, 
what did that child do, but keep house for 
her poor father, and take care of the six 
children. 

"But how do you care for the baby, 
Katie?" I asked. 

"Oh sir," said Katie, "I did have a hard 
time with the baby, for we never could de- 
pend on the milk; but now we've got a 
goat from the marsh, father paid five dol- 



164 The Palace Beautiful. 

lars for her, and the children ride her all 
day in the backyard. Her name is Nan, 
and she doesn't mind one bit what she eats. 
She will eat newspapers and potato parings 
all the same. So now I get on beautifully." 

" Does Nan cry for her kids, Katie ? " I 
said. 

"She did at first, sir," replied Katie; "it 
kept us awake at nights; but now we get 
plenty of turnips, from the farm where my 
father works, and whenever Nan begins to 
cry now, I get her a mess of turnips, and 
she seems to forget all about her kids. I 
am very sorry about the kids," Katie added, 
"one was a brown one, and one was a 
black and white one. I do hope they are 
not dead; the man was a kind-looking man 
that took them away. But I couldn't get 
on without Nan." 

Now there was a little girl, only eleven 
years old by the clock, but a great deal 
older than all the eleven-year-old children 
in the town. If I had said to her, "Katie, 
how old are you?" she would have replied, 



Looking at the Clock. 165 

" eleven years old," but then this reply would 
not have told me her real age. She was a 
great deal older than this. 

And so when Jacob told Pharaoh his age, 
he did not tell the Egyptian king how very 
old he felt himself to be, or through what 
great troubles he had been. 

To know how old we really are then in 
life, we must know just how to look at the 
clock God has given us: we must keep the 
clock set right, and we must mind the clock 
when it is set. 

First I said, we must keep the clock set 
right. I mean by the clock, the conscience, 
or the law of right in our souls. There is 
something in our souls, which is like the 
mainspring of a watch, or the weights of a 
clock. It is like a spring, wound up by God 
himself, to keep us going right. God has 
given to each of us a conscience, just as he 
has given to each of us a heart, or a pair 
of lungs, or a digestive apparatus. A man 
may ruin his heart, or his lungs, or his di- 
gestion, by carelessness and imprudence, and 



166 The Palace Beautiful. 

in this way may kill himself. People who 
use liquor, and steep themselves in spirits, 
burn out their stomachs, until their diges- 
tion fails them, and food is not turned into 
blood, and they die. And, in this same 
way, a man may kill his conscience, or 
may let it die out — just as a clock runs 
down before the hour is finished, or a mu- 
sical box, stops, in the middle of the tune 
it is playing. 

It is just with our conscience as it is with 
our clothes, or our dogs and horses — we may 
give them a bad set or fit, or let them get 
balky, or stubborn, or barking, and snarly. 
We want to watch our conscience and keep 
it set right. God gives us ever so many 
means to help us. He gives us the Bible, 
and the Christian Church as a training 
school, just as the country gives to those 
who want to be soldiers and sailors, West 
Point, and Annapolis, and all the studies 
there. He tells us to pray to him. He gives 
us, to encourage us, all the lives of the saints 
and heroes of the Church ; just as the picture- 



Looking at the Clock. 167 

gallery at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, 
shows us on its walls the portraits and relics 
of revolutionary times, and the heroes and 
generals who fought in those stormy days. 
; Jesus Christ came to teach us how to live 
and to die. He was the true light, which 
lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world. It is by all these helps that we are 
to regulate our souls, and keep the con- 
science, or the rule of right, in good run- 
ning order. When we are tempted to do 
wrong, we ought to know and see the 
wrong at once, instead of waiting to debate 
about it. 

When you pull out the cord of a bow, 
and let go your hand suddenly, the spring 
in the bow will fly back to its place, and 
hurl the arrow out. This is the way our con- 
sciences ought to act, when we are stretched 
and tempted to do wrong. The angels fly 
to do God's will; we stop to debate about 
it. When we feel that we are behind time, 
and are running slow in the way of duty, 
we ought to remember the warning words 



168 The Palace Beautiful. 

of the deaf minister's wife — "Look at the 
clock, Mr. Jones! Look at the clock!!' 1 

And then, secondly, I said, if we want to 
know how old we are, or how far we have 
gone on the way to God and heaven, we 
must be able to mind the clock, when it is 
set. 

"Oh mother, I wish I was a real black 
heathen," said a boy to his mother; "just 
like those black fellows in the pictures in 
Stanley's book, 'Through the Dark Conti- 
nent.' They seemed to do just what they 
wanted to do all the time, and got mad 
every time they felt like it." 

" Why, Harry, my son," replied his mother, 
"what makes you talk in this wild way?" 

"Because," said Harry, "it must be so 
nice to feel for once that a fellow can do 
what he wants to do — without all this rum- 
pus and clattering, about doing right and 
doing wrong." 

This boy Harry was tired of looking at 
the clock. He was tired of hearing it strike 
all the time. He did not want to know the 



Looking at the Clock. 169 

time of day at all. He wanted to be in the 
dark, and to be let alone. 

Every man who is of any use in the world 
first sets his clock right, and then minds his 
clock. There is always one clock in the 
house which rules the house — and it is gen- 
erally the cook's clock in the kitchen. 

When General Washington was president, 
he had a very punctual colored cook. This 
cook had an old-fashioned English clock, and 
the cook used to boast that his clock was the 
real president, because it ruled the Presi- 
dent's family. Whenever dinner was ordered 
— at that very hour the dinner was served — 
for the old cook used to say that the ques- 
tion was not "Have the company arrived?" 
but "Has the hour come?" 

It is very wonderful to see how perfectly 
machinery can be made, and how true it can 
be to its orders. Look at a musical box; or 
listen to that wonderful instrument, the or- 
ganette. Every little pin in the musical box, 
and every hole in the sheet of paper in the 
organette, gives the right sound, in the right 



170 The Palace Beautiful. 

place. Look at an orchestra of musicians! 
How they look at their clock, or, in other 
words, mind the time of the leader's ba- 
ton ! What sort of music would it be, if 
each performer should play as he thought 
best? 

Go out on some clear bright night, and 
look at the stars, and the planets in the 
heavens. What keeps them in their place? 
Why do they not fall out of their orbits? 
They look at the clock ! They mind the clock, 
— they obey God's laws; and all this perfec- 
tion is the result of their obedience. 

And we must look at God's clock, and 
must mind it, if we want to be God's chil- 
dren, and serve him, here and in heaven. 
God has given us a rule by which to serve 
him. It is like a voice in the dark; it is 
like a light in the night-time; it is like 
a clock that tells us just what time it is 
with us. It has an alarm bell to it, when 
we need to be warned; it has a key by 
which it can be wound up; and God has 
given us the power of regulating it our- 



Looking at the Clock. 171 

selves, by the light and knowledge he has 
revealed to us. 

This clock is our conscience: it is that 
within us which tells us when we have 
done wrong, and when we have done right: 
it hangs out a red signal — the blush of 
shame on our cheek — when we tell a lie or 
do a wrong deed. It lightens up the face 
with a bright smile and cheery voice, when 
we have done right. 

Therefore let us learn to keep our con- 
science right, by keeping from sin and by 
growing in goodness; so that it will not 
run too slow or too fast with us; and then 
let us learn to mind our conscience, because 
it is really and truly the voice of God in us, 
calling us, just as actually as he called lit- 
tle Samuel in the Temple, when he said in 
the darkness, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant 
heareth." 

And these are the lessons we learn from 
looking at the clock, as we ask ourselves 
what time of day it is with us in our 
lives, whether we have got far on in serv- 



172 The Palace Beautiful. 

ing God, or are only at the beginning of the 
journey: 

We must set the conscience right 
We must mind the conscience ichen it is set 
There is one verse in the 119th Psalm 
which sounds just like the great town-clock 
of a village striking twelve o'clock as the 
people pass by, and set their watches by 
it. It is like the sun and rules every thing 
in all God's worlds. It is this: 

"Forever, Lord, thy word is settled in 

HEAVEN." 



VIII. 



Cjn gj t a; fr fo |! a t {[ . 



THE MEADOW PATH. 

1 ' There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which 
the vulture's eye hath not seen. The lion's whelps have 
not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it." — Job 
xxviii. 7, 8. 

^jpHEKE is nothing so delightful in the 
^■L^ hot summer-time in the country, as a 
shady meadow path. The hot turnpike road 
is dry and dusty, the stones wound one's feet 
and the heat of the sun pours down upon the 
head. The cattle in the meadow, get into 
the brook, and as they cool themselves under 
the over-shadowing willow-trees, they brush 
away the persistent flies with their tails, and 
stamp their feet in the water that runs by 
this shady pathway. 

Some years ago, a number of city boys, 
who lived in the country for the summer- 
time, made up their minds that they would 
go off on a pedestrian tour, through Pennsyl- 



176 The Palace Beautiful. 

vania. They had read about tours through 
foreign countries, especially Bayard Tay- 
lor's tramps through Europe, which he had 
taken when he was a youth, and they 
had heard their fathers and friends, talk- 
ing about the delightful walking excur- 
sions they had enjoyed in Switzerland. So 
the boys formed themselves into a com- 
pany, and they had these letters put upon 
their caps, 




People thought they belonged to some boat 
crew, but they did not tell what the letters 
stood for, until they had finished all their 
plans. Then it was known to the world that 
just as the old letters on the Roman stand- 
ards, S. P. Q. R., stood for " The Senate and 
People of Rome" — so the letters C. H. 
P. L. stood for the "Chelten Hills Pedes- 
trian League." These boys had passports 



The Meadow Path. 177 

given to them by a gentleman whom they 
had in fun elected mayor of the village, and 
when they were all thoroughly equipped, they 
started forth with their knapsacks on their 
backs and their alpenstocks in their hands. 
First they were to walk to Gwynned, then 
to Doylestown, on the old York Turnpike, 
and finally they were to bring up at Beth- 
lehem, Pennsylvania, at the old Eising Sun 
Hotel there. 

So they started forth on their pedestrian 
trip. Flags were waved, and guns were fired 
off, and the white hats of the adventurous 
walkers, at last disappeared in the farthest 
turn in the road- But on the second or 
third day, when the feet were tired and 
blistered, and the shoes pinched hard, and 
the knapsacks were heavy, and the sun was 
hot — the boys were very glad to leave the 
hot and dusty road, and steal along by 
the brooks and shady paths of the river. 
The great highway did very well for the 
start, and the day of parade, but the mead- 
ow path was more grateful to the tired pe- 



178 The Palace Beautiful. 

destrians than the turnpike — over which all 
the carts and wagons passed. 

Now, in our text to-day, Job — who seemed 
to know so much about the world — is speak- 
ing of the pathway of wisdom, or the way 
by which we may ascend to God. He says 
it is like a hidden way, and then adds, "There 
is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which 
the vulture's eye hath not seen. The lion's 
whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce 
lion passed by it." That is, animals like 
lions, and birds like vultures, have a cer- 
tain kind of knowledge which comes by in- 
stinct; but they do not have that higher 
knowledge which comes from the mind, and 
its power of reasoning. God gives to ani- 
mals, something which takes the place of 
reason. Ducks fly to the south in the fall 
of the year: beavers build their houses on 
the riverside ; birds know just how to weave 
and plait their nests. But they could not 
explain a problem in geometry, or paint a 
picture, or compose a piece of music. This 
is a way " which, no fowl knoweth, and which 



The Meadow Path. 179 

the vulture's eye hath not seen. The lion's 
whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce 
lion passed by it." 

I want to speak to you, to-day, my dear 
children, about that meadow path, or that 
side path, for God's children, which turns 
away from the broad highway of the whole 
realm of God's other creations. I want to 
speak to you about two things which we 
find in our human life, which are not found 
in any other department of life. 

I. 

And first of all we find the pathway of 
innocence. 

This is a by-path which is like a meadow 
road, after we have been treading the dusty 
highway, where all the lumbering wagons 
rattle along over the stones. There is some- 
thing very tiring in being in a crowd. For 
instance, we go to some great menagerie, 
or Zo-ological exhibition. We see the ani- 
mals pacing up and down in their cages; 



180 The Palace Beautiful. 

we are jostled by the crowd that always is 
near the monkey cage: peanuts, lemonade, 
and cake, and the sawdust ring where the 
horses perform — all seem to belong after all 
to a lower vulgar world. We feel a little 
ashamed of the company we are in, just a 
little bit — it is peanut and sawdust com- 
pany. We always feel tired as we come out, 
and leave the band playing, and the animals 
howling, especially if a thunder storm has 
come on, and we have to go home with our 
unbrellas up — in a rain which makes the 
dust in some way stick to us. 

It seems a coarse, low, common world we 
have been in ; we do not feel proud of having 
gorillas and monkeys for our relations, and 
as we try to get away from the multitude, 
we feel that in our own sweet, innocent 
homes "There is a path which no fowl 
knoweth, which the lion's whelps have not 
trodden, nor the fierce lion passed by it." 

Innocence is like the meadow path, turn- 
ing aside from the hard and stony highway 
of sin. It is refreshing and comforting, and 



The . Meadow Path. 181 

is just like the green grass and shady walk 
of some embowered path. But the rocks and 
the flowers and the animals do not know 
what sin is, or what right and wrong are. 
It is a path which they know nothing about. 
They have never trodden that way. 

Now I know many boys and girls think 
that to be called innocent, is to be considered 
" green," as they call it, and that much wis- 
dom, is very apt to go hand in hand with 
sin. But this is a great mistake. We can 
all tread the pathway of sin and wrong do- 
ing, but it is a road which is filled with 
dangerous pitfalls, and has terrible remem- 
brances connected with it. 

" What can I do for you ? " asked a physi- 
cian of an old man who had lived a suffer- 
ing life, filled with violations of the laws 
of health, for which he was now paying 
the penalty. 

"Oh," said the worn-out, dying man, 
"give me back my youth! give me back 
my youth ! " 

And many a person who has grown old 



182 The Palace Beautiful. 

and hardened in sin, has sighed as he has 
thought of those days when he was a pure 
and innocent child, and has longed in his 
dreary, helpless, hopeless old age, to have 
again, the fresh and innocent feelings of his 
childhood hours. 

Sin stamps its mark upon the human face, 
just as the hot brand of iron stamps its 
mark upon the cattle, in a western ranche. 
I have seen people's faces disguised by 
smiles and false appearances, whereby they 
have tried to hide the markings of sin; yet 
underneath all this there are the unmistak- 
able traces of sin. 

If you ever go to a jail or penitentiary, 
and watch the faces of the convicts there, 
you will see in them that peculiar some- 
thing, which gives to the prisoner the look 
of the criminal. It is very difficult to tell 
just what this marking of sin is, and it is 
very difficult ever to wipe it out. It sticks 
like the stain of paint, or of India ink, upon 
the flesh which will not be washed away. 
Lost innocence ! How can we ever find it 



The Meadow Path. 183 

again ! It is like the cry of Adam and his 
wife, when they were driven from the gar- 
den of Eden, that earliest home of innocence. 

Some time ago a young man in a western 
city, becoming desperate for money, joined a 
band of burglars. One Sunday evening, his 
gang were purposing to break into a closed 
house, and rob it of its valuables. 

This boy had climbed over the roof, and 
had bored his way into the attic, with an 
auger, and was about entering the house in 
order to open the basement door, and let his 
companions in, when he heard in the adjoin- 
ing house, a mother singing her child to 
sleep. She was singing in a soft, sweet 
voice, that dear old cradle hymn, 

"Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber, 
Holy angels guard thy bed; 
Heavenly blessings without number 
Gently fall upon thy head. 

"How much better thou'rt attended 
Than the Son of God could be, 
When from heaven he descended 
And became a child like thee." 



184 The Palace Beautiful. 

The young burglar stopped. That hymn 
and that very tune, reminded him of the 
time when his own mother sat by his bed- 
side, and sang to him that same tune and 
hymn. It was too much for him; it over- 
came him. He thought of his own lost in- 
nocence, and of his present sinful life, and 
he made up his mind to make one desperate 
effort to regain that lost path, which no fowl 
knoweth, and which the vulture's eye had 
never seen. And he crept down the ladder 
again, and left his comrades waiting for him 
at that door, which he himself was to open. 

One of the most wonderful poems of the 
great poet Goethe, is based upon this thought 
of lost innocence. Marguerite, the German 
peasant girl, after her sin, goes back again 
to the old church, where she used to pray as 
a little child. She kneels down by the side 
of the column in the aisle where she former- 
ly knelt, and hears the words of forgiveness 
from the priest. But now she is not happy. 
She can not pray; she can not get near to 
God. She listens to the hymns she used to 




JUDAS CASTING DOWN THE MONEY. 
Palace Beautiful. 



The Meadow Path. 185 

love so much, but now they fill her soul 
with fear. She thinks of her sins, and of 
the day of judgment, and at last she can 
stand it no longer. She seizes her well- 
thumbed prayer book, and hurries out of the 
church to get away from the thoughts, which 
her old life of innocence, suggest to her. 

It was the remorse for his sins, wliich. 
caused Judas to cast down the money, and 
go out from the company of the chief priests 
and hang himself. It was the feeling of 
his loss of innocence, which hurried Simon 
Peter, out from the presence of Jesus, in the 
judgment hall of Pilate. He could not bear 
to look into his Master s face. He could not 
endure the searching look of his Lord's eye, 
as it fell upon him in the moment of denial. 
So he went out from the presence of Jesus, 
and wept bitterly, as he thought of his fall 
from his former professions, to the present 
life of sin. 

Dear boys and girls, guard this by-way 
of innocence. Don't use words, don't read 
books, don't think thoughts which soil your 



186 The Palace Beautiful. 

minds, and give you evil suggestions. You 
*all know how many things you learn from 
each other in school, and how, when a low 
or vulgar nature sets the fashion for de- 
praved words and thoughts, the other chil- 
dren follow the example of the bad boy or 
girl so quickly. This habit of picking up 
bad words and ideas is very contagious. 
It is just like having the scarlet fever or 
diptheria, break out in school, to have foul- 
mouthed children set their bad examples 
with their foul tongues. We learn bad 
things in school, when we are children, 
from our bad companions, which we never 
forget in after life. 

Therefore we ought to be careful while we 
are young, never to think lightly of the way 
of innocence, never to think that to be in- 
nocent is to be " green," and that to be wise 
is to be " knowing." The greedy, the cruel, 
the avaricious, the fierce, tread a different 
path. We ought to be glad to be able to 
walk in a path, " which no fowl knoweth, 
and which the vulture's eye hath not seen," 



The Meadow Path. 187 

where "the lion's whelps have not trodden, 
nor the fierce lion passed by it." 

Evil thoughts and bad words, are like the 
unclean vultures and the hungry lions. In- 
nocence is a path which they know not, 
and on which they never enter. Therefore, 
my dear children, keep in the pathway of 
innocence, and you will avoid the unclean 
vultures, and the fierce lions — those evil 
thoughts and words which hurt the soul. 

II. 

Secondly, there is the 'pathway of ivisdom. 

Wisdom is not found in the animal world, 
though as I have already said, animals have 
instinct given them from God, which takes 
the place of reason. Some of the higher 
animals, and especially dogs, do at times 
seem to reason. Instinct is the germ, of 
which reason is the flower. Some dogs are 
surprising in the way in which they think 
out things. Dogs are wonderful creatures: 
they seem to worship those they love. Man 
is like a god to their sense of reverence and 



188 The Palace Beautiful. 

affection. And birds seem to reason. When 
I was a little boy in the country, I had some 
bantam chickens, and on Sundays I used to 
shut them up in the hen-house, so as not 
to let them go about breaking the Sabbath. 
However, I hold different views on this sub- 
ject now. But there was one bantam rooster 
whom I named after a celebrated minister. 
" Dr. Rogers," my bantam rooster, used to 
get out on Sundays, and crow all over 
the place. I never could tell how he got 
out of the hen-house alone, while the rest 
were shut up and had a dreary, quarrelsome 
Sabbath-day — croaking at each other, and 
occasionally ruffling their necks and fight- 
ing, to relieve the monotony of the long 
day. 

At last I found out the secret. " Dr. Rog- 
ers," used to roost on a lilac bush near the 
hen-house, every Saturday night ! How he 
knew when it was Saturday night, is more 
than I have ever found out. He would go 
in like any other chicken on Monday night, 
or the other nights; but as sure as Saturday 



The Meadow Path. 189 

night came round, off he would go by him- 
self, and have a sly, lonely roost on the hid- 
den side of the lilac bush, so as to spend his 
seventh day in excursions over the place. 
I always considered that "Dr. Sogers," was 
a most uncommon bird. I never could make 
him out. It seems hard to say of his wis- 
dom, that it was a path which was not known 
to any fowl. How a bantam rooster, without 
any diary, or watch, or calendar, could tell 
when the seventh night came round, and 
could avoid the hen-house for that one par- 
ticular night, is something I have never been 
able to make out. 

Animals do come very near at times to 
human wisdom; but then these cases are 
exceptions to the general rule. But just as 
the life everlasting grows out of this life as 
its germ, so human wisdom, grows out of 
that natural instinct, which we have in com- 
mon with the beasts. 

Wisdom belongs to beings who can think 
and reason, and not alone to those which 
obey the demands of their instincts, such 



190 The Palace Beautiful. 

as the desire for food, and companionship, 
and exercise. 

This ability to reason is the sign of a high- 
er life: it is a step forward in the scale of be- 
ing — above the mere animal life. To think, 
to reflect, to reason, to meditate, to construct 
arguments, and be ready with proofs and de- 
monstrations — is something which we have 
in common with God, not in common with 
the animal world. We get our instincts 
from our animal life, and our reasoning 
powers come from the union of our natures 
with God the Creator. 

Therefore, this path of wisdom, and of re- 
flection, is something which is peculiar to 
man. It is a path which the " vulture's eye 
hath not seen, and which the lion's whelps 
have not trodden." 

But it is very difficult to walk in these 
two paths — innocence and wisdom. People 
who are very innocent, are not always wise : 
and people who are wise, are not always 
innocent. 

Jesus said, when he sent forth his disci- 



The Meadow Path. 191 

pies on their mission of doing good, " Be 
ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." 

The wisdom of the serpent — the harm- 
lessness of the dove — those were the two 
things the disciples needed, to help them in 
their work of preaching the gospel, and bless- 
ing the world. 

The world at times seems very wicked : at 
other times it seems very foolish. 

Dear children, as followers of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, we must not go in the w r ay 
of the world. We must leave the broad 
way that leadeth to destruction, and take 
the narrow way, the meadow path, where 
the unclean can not enter; that pathway of 
innocence and of wisdom, which God has 
revealed to us through Jesus our Saviour; 
that path, which the vultures know not, and 
where the lions pass not by. 



IX. 



Small beginnings 



SMALL BEGINNINGS. 

" How many loaves have ye ? " — Maek vi. 38. 



rsj/ 




HEN Jesus heard of John the Baptist's 
death, he gathered his disciples to- 
gether, and crossed over the sea of Galilee, 
to a desert place. The great crowd that fol- 
lowed him, were anxious to witness a mira- 
cle, and see Jesus perform some new marvel. 
This concourse of people, becoming interested 
in Jesus and his works, seemed to forget all 
about their bodies, and before very long, our 
Saviour found that a large, faint and hungry 
multitude of people, were following him. 

There is something always tiring in a mul- 
titude of people. It is very curious how a 
crowd collects people. If we see others run- 
ning along the street ; or gathered together at 
a corner, we feel an irresistible impulse to go 



196 The Palace Beautiful. 

and see what is the matter, and if we stand 
very long in a crowd, we will soon feel a 
strange sense of tiredness coming over us. 
I suppose this is the reason why, when we 
go on picnics and excursions, we feel very 
hungry and tired. There is a certain amount 
of excitement in a concourse of people, and 
this excitement seems to take our minds 
away from our bodies, until all of a sudden, 
we wake up to the fact that we have become 
very hungry. You all know how this is, 
when we go on picnics and excursions. 
We talk and laugh, and tell stories, and 
then feel so hungry, that all the things we 
have taken with us disappear very rapidly, 
and seem very good at the time. Well, I 
suppose in very much some such way, this 
crowd of various spectators, becoming inter- 
ested in Jesus, and hoping to see a new mir- 
acle from him, followed him into the desert 
place, before they realized how far they had 
come away from their homes. 

Jesus was full of compassion for people, 
not only for their souls but also for their 



Small Beginnings. 197 

bodies, and he soon found that these people 
had followed him, out of interest and curi- 
osity, and that they had taken no thought, 
of the way in which they were to be fed. 
We read that when Jesus lifted up his eyes 
and saw a great company come unto him, he 
said unto Philip, " Whence shall we buy bread 
that these may eat ? and this he said to prove 
him, for he himself knew what he would do. 
Philip answered him, two hundred penny- 
worth of bread is not sufficient for them that 
every one may take a little. One of his dis- 
ciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith 
unto him, there is a lad here, which hath five 
barley loaves, and two small fishes : but what 
are they among so many ? " I suppose this 
lad was a fishing boy, or he might have been 
one of the boys who had charge of the boats. 
Perhaps he was a guide, and knew this desert 
place, to which Jesus was going with the dis- 
ciples, and so he may have thought that he 
would take care of himself at least, and provide 
for his own wants, these five loaves and two 
fishes. However this may be, Andrew, who 



198 The Palace Beautiful. 

was the younger brother of Simon Peter, 
seemed to know this boy, and when Jesus 
said to Philip, " What shall we do to feed 
this multitude?" and when the disciples 
were wondering among themselves, how 
they could possibly spread a dinner for 
five thousand people, Jesus said, "Make 
the men sit down." 

We read that there was much grass in the 
place. We know how pleasant it is on a pic- 
nic or excursion, to sit down in a cool and 
shady place, with the green grass about* us. 
There is always something very pleasant in 
this camping out life, and life in the woods. 

So, at this time, the men and women sat 
down, and the disciples counted, that there 
were about five thousand of them. Then 
Jesus asked for the loaves and the fishes, 
which this boy had. I suppose they were 
pretty rough loaves of bread, and we are not 
told what kind of fishes they were, but Jesus 
took them, and with this, as his capital or 
stock, he began to work his miracle, with the 
materials which this boy in the company had. 




FEEDING THE MULTITUDE 



Palace Beautiful 



Small Beginnings. 199 

What a scene tliis must have been! The 
loaves were broken off, but they did not seem 
to come to an end. The fishes were divided, 
again and again, and yet there was enough, 
and to spare. It is very wonderful to think 
of it. It is one of the most surprising of 
our Lord's mighty works. He might have 
brought the food for them out of the ground. 
He might have called to his Father in heaven, 
to rain down manna for the hungry multi- 
tude, as had happened to the Israelites in 
the desert : or they might have been fed with 
a miraculous supply of quails, such as came 
to the children of Israel, when they grew 
tired of collecting manna : or he might have 
prayed for the angels in heaven to come and 
bring food for these hungry men and women 
and children. But Jesus wanted to teach his 
disciples, and to teach us all, a lesson, of be- 
ginning with that which we have at hand. 
Think of this small beginning with the loaves 
and the fishes, and yet from this supply, which 
the boy in the company had, the five thou- 
sand men and women were fed. 



200 The Palace Beautiful. 

This sermon is about, 

"Small Beginnings." 

It is very easy for us to do great things 
in life, when we have got great things to 
work with. If Ave have a great deal of 
knowledge and money, or a great deal of 
power, people have a right to expect that 
we shall bring about great results. But to 
begin with a very small stock in trade, and 
from this to work out great results, shows 
great strength of character, and purpose, and 
will. Now we can not do any thing in the 
world in the way of business, without capi- 
tal. Every merchant has his stock, every 
bank has its capital, every manufactory has 
its revenue to draw upon. Doctors and law- 
yers have their books, and their experience, 
and business men have their training and 
habits of business, which they have learned 
in their boyhood, and great railroads, and 
steamship lines and corporations, have their 
capital or stock, from which they work out 
their profits. Boys begin very early in life 



Small Beginnings. 201 

with their stock in trade. Some boys' stock 
is carried in their pockets. A knife, a ring, a 
horse-chestnut, a spool, a nail, two or three 
blocks, some acorns, a toothpick, a piece of 
string, a slate pencil, a piece of iron chain, 
help to form many a boy's stock in trade, 
which he carries with him, and from which 
he amuses himself, when he feels dull and 
lonely. One of the funniest books about 
boys that I ever read, is a book by that 
well-known writer, Mark Twain. It is called 
"The Story of Tom Sawyer." Tom Sawyer 
carried in his pockets all sorts of things to 
amuse himself with, out of school and in 
school, and to trade off with other boys. 
When he wanted to get them to go his er- 
rands, he used to have bugs and beetles, 
which he carried in little boxes, and kept in 
his pockets, and the story of the way in 
which he used to get other boys to do his 
work, by trading off from his stock, is very 
funnily told in this book. 

Well, my dear children, to begin any kind 
of business, we must have some capital, some 



202 The Palace Beautiful. 

stock, something to start with, something 
which we can use for our trade. And when 
we are come to serve God our Father in 
heaven, and live the Christian life and be 
the disciples of our Lord and Master, we 
will find that we must begin, it may be, 
with a very small capital, and yet from 
this we may bring about great results, just 
as Jesus, from the small beginning of the 
five loaves and the two fishes, worked the 
miracle of feeding the five thousand people. 

And now let us find out the lessons which 
this subject teaches us. 

I. 

And first I would say that God has given 
us all something to begin with. It would be 
very hard, if God were to expect of us, that 
which we had not the power to perform. 
If God were to tell us to do something 
which was impossible, as the condition of 
our entering heaven, it would be very hard. 
But God has told us to do only that which 



Small Beginnings. 203 

is possible, and in order to do this, he has 
given. us all something, whereby we can be- 
gin to do his will. If God were to tell us 
each to find the North Pole, or to count the 
stars, or to visit the moon, this would be a 
very hard beginning for us. But God's com- 
mands are all given to us, with the knowl- 
edge that it is possible for us to comply with 
them. There was Cornelius, the Eoman Cen- 
turion. He did not know about Christ. He 
had never been taught by the apostles, and 
yet he prayed to God, and gave his alms, 
and this was the beginning of his life of 
righteousness. The Ethiopian eunuch, who 
came all the way from the east to worship 
at Jerusalem, was going back, when Philip 
the evangelist met him, knowing nothing 
about the Saviour's life and death. He had 
a very little stock of material, a very little 
capital, with which to begin to serve God, 
and yet he was doing the best that he 
could. He was doing all that he knew how 
to do, and from this small beginning, God 
led him into the full truth, and he was bap- 



204 The Palace Beautiful. 

tized into the name of Christ. Napoleon 
Bonaparte as a youth, when he witnessed 
the mob in Paris besieging the palace of 
the Tuileries, said that if he were only in 
command, he would soon put the mob down, 
and when the command was given to him, 
it was his determination and his will to sup- 
press the riot, which was the beginning of 
his great career. People said, " If this young 
man has so much decision now, what will 
he do when he is older?" And there was 
William Pitt, the Prime Minister of England, 
at twenty -four years of age, the ruler of the 
empire. He said, when England was at a 
very low ebb, "I know I can save England, 
and I know no other man can," and it was 
upon this determination, on his part, that 
his after greatness rested. Lord Beacons- 
field, the late Premier of England, when he 
was a youth, studying law in his fathers 
house in London, was asked what he meant 
to be in life. He replied, " I want to become 
Prime Minister of England," and from this 
determination, all the springs of his after 



Small Beginnings. 205 

greatness arose. Depend upon it, dear chil- 
dren, God has given us all something to be- 
gin with. One boy has a firm will, another 
has a kind temper, another has good business 
habits, another wants to be an author. The 
poet Bryant at the age of twenty-one was 
earning only two dollars apiece for his poems, 
and yet this was the beginning of his illus- 
trious career. 

Now, dear children, do not fold your arms 
and say, "I never can do any thing. I never 
can be good. I never can accomplish any 
thing in the world, because I have nothing 
to begin with." Begin with what you have, 
begin in your own homes, begin in your 
school life, begin in your Sunday school; 
for if we can not farm and till the little 
acre, God has given to us now, we never 
will be able to sow, and plant, and reap, in 
wider fields, in days to come. 

II. 

Secondly, We must begin with ivhat we have. 
Look at Jesus and the loaves and fishes. 



206 The Palace Beautiful. 

Philip said that two hundred pennyworth of 
bread would not be sufficient, that every one 
of them might have a little. I suppose the 
disciples wondered among themselves, how it 
was possible that Jesus could feed the mul- 
titude, with the lunch which this fisher boy 
had. " How could five loaves and two fishes, 
feed five thousand," the disciples said. Yet 
Jesus had faith in himself, and faith in his 
heavenly Father, and he knew that he was 
right, and that he had power from God. So 
he simply asked for God's blessing, and then 
began to feed the poor hungry souls about 
him, with the material which was nearest to 
him. What a lesson this is to us, of begin- 
ning with what we have ! Some of you may 
say, "Yes, but Jesus is the Saviour, he was 
divine, and we are only human. We can 
not do such wonderful works as this." And 
though we can not feed five thousand people, 
yet we can begin to serve God, and do our 
duty, and work out results in the world, with 
that material, which we have at our hands. 
There was Charles Dickens, the great au- 



Small Beginnings. 207 

thor. When he was a boy, his eyes were 
open and his ears were open, and he took 
notice of all sorts and conditions of people. 
He studied their characters and the features 
of their faces, and the way they spoke, and 
the character of their minds. He studied hu- 
man nature, in order that he might be able 
to write about it. He went to the markets, 
and the stores, and through the crowded 
streets of London, with his eyes wide open 
all the time. He went into prisons, and 
courts, and churches, and assemblies, and 
he never forgot what he saw. It was all 
this observation of the world, which gave 
Charles Dickens his great capital, his stock 
of knowledge of human character, from which 
he drew the wonderful pictures, which are so 
familiar to us all. 

But I think James Watt was one of the 
most wonderful boys that ever taught us 
this lesson, of beginning with what we al- 
ready have ! In Westminster Abbey, to-day, 
among the kings and the nobles, and the 
great poets and writers of all ages, there 



208 The Palace Beautiful. 

stands that pure white marble monument, to 
the great Scottish inventor. 

When James Watt was a boy, he lived 
with his aunt, and used to spend hours in 
looking into the tea-kettle. He saw things 
in the tea-kettle, on the fire, which no one 
else saw. Hundreds and thousands of peo- 
ple had looked into the nozzle of a tea-ket- 
tle before, and had seen the lid rise and fall, 
without seeing in that iron pot, what James 
Watt saw there. He used to sit by the hour 
with his head on his hands gazing into the 
kettle, till his aunt would say, " Get up, get 
up, you lazy boy; what do you mean spend- 
ing your time, stopping up the spout and see- 
ing the lid rise ; are you not ashamed of your- 
self to be wasting your time in this idle 
way ? " Yet even then, James Watt was be- 
ginning, with the material he had in his 
boyish brain. He saw in the kettle, that 
wonderful force of steam, which at last came 
out to the world in the shape of the steam 
engine. The world had lived nearly five 
thousand years, and yet no one had ever 



Small Beginnings. 209 

seen in the rising steam, that which this 
thoughtful Scottish boy on the banks of the 
Clyde at Greenock, saw. 

The psalmist says in one place, in describ- 
ing the heathen idols, "They have eyes, but 
they see not: they have ears, but they hear 
not : noses have they, but they smell not : feet 
have they, but they walk not : neither speak 
they through their throats." The difference 
between an idol and a living soul, is simply 
that the idol has nothing to begin with, but 
the man has all sorts of faculties, given to 
him by God to be used. There was a young 
minister once, who was very carefully edu- 
cated and trained, at college and at the di- 
vinity school. He knew Hebrew, and Greek, 
and Latin, and philosophy, and all the stud- 
ies of the day, but he did not care very 
much to go to work. ' He liked to be a min- 
ister with his gloves on, and ministers with 
their gloves on, are the very poorest kind 
of workmen. Nobody can work with his 
gloves on. 

Well, this young gentleman, after years of 



210 The Palace Beautiful. 

loitering in his work, had a call to go out 
west, to a mining town. He did not want 
to go, and yet nobody seemed to want him 
in the east, so at last he came to see his 
old minister, who had brought him up, 
to talk about what he should do. "Ah!" 
said the young minister, "it seems such a 
pity, that I should have to waste all my 
knowledge on those poor miners out there. 
They know nothing about the languages or 
philosophy, and it is such a small place to 
begin. I do not see how I can go." 

"Yes," said his friend, "but it is not as 
small a place as Nazareth was, and it was 
there, that Jesus began his ministry." 

Now I want you to remember this lesson, 
my dear children, that we must begin to 
do our work with the materials we have 
on hand — now. We must not wait until 
we are better, or stronger, or have more 
power. 

Jesus did not despise the five loaves and 
the two fishes. They seem to us a very 
small supply, with which to feed five thou- 



Small Beginnings. 211 

sand people, and yet it was just with these 
small beginnings, that Jesus wrought his 
mighty work. 

III. 

Thirdly, More strength loiH come by practice. 
We hear a great deal in the world, about the- 
ory and practice. Theory means our thoughts 
and views of subjects, but practice means 
the skill with which we are able to carry 
out our views. Some time ago a gentle- 
man came into a bird store, and began to 
criticise a stuffed owl that was there. Said 
he, "That is no kind of way to stuff an 
owl. I have shot many owls in my day, and 
have stuffed them. In fact I pride myself 
on the skill, with which I can stuff birds. 
You never saw a live owl stand in that 
way." 

While he was talking, all of a sudden the 
owl, which he supposed to be stuffed, turned 
its head around, and blinked its eyes and 
opened its beak. The man's theories of 
stuffing owls, were all very well in their 



212 The Palace Beautiful. 

place, but the practical owl, that was alive 
on the perch, only made the boaster's talk 
appear ridiculous. 

Now, dear children, we never can accom- 
plish great things in the world, without con- 
stant practice. It is not enough for a musi- 
cian that he knows music. He must practice 
every day, upon his violin or piano, if he 
would keep himself in tune. It is not 
enough that singers are taught, when they 
are young, all the notes of music. They 
must practice continually, if they want to 
"be at home" in music. And in this same 
way a young lawyer, or a young doctor, does 
not feel content with the fact, that he has 
studied in the law school, or in the medical 
school, in days gone by. You will find the 
young lawyer, going to court, and speaking 
in what the law students call Moot-courts, 
where they debate over cases, that come be- 
fore them. You will find the medical stu- 
dent, going to hospitals and dissecting rooms, 
and hunting out all sorts of sick people, and 
people that have been lamed by accidents. 



Small Beginnings. 213 

They want to find plenty of practice, be- 
cause they know that strength and skill in 
their profession, come by practice. 

I knew a young doctor who after he had 
graduated, and had received his diploma, 
could not bear to go to a hospital, and would 
always put his hands over his face, whenever 
he saw a bad wound, because he said he 
did not like to look at it. It made him 
feel badly. But that kind of a doctor, would 
never make his mark in the world, without 
practice. No one would be willing to trust 
him. 

Some time ago I was riding in the bag- 
gage-car of a train with a party of acrobats, 
and I fell into conversation, with one of 
them. I asked him how it was that they 
were able to jump over bars, and swing 
from ring to ring, and jump and stand 
on each other's shoulders, and heads, and 
take such fearful leaps through the air, 
without any sense of fear. He told me 
that all this nerve, came by 'practice; that 
he never felt afraid to jump through the air, 



214 The Palace Beautiful. 

and climb up to dizzy heights, if he practiced 
continually, but that if he let himself get out 
of practice, then he was in constant fear, that 
he might slip. He said that the body obeyed 
the will continually, that the body was the 
slave of the will, so long as the will kept 
the body in obedience, but that when he 
was out of practice, he was out of power, 
and that when he was out of power, then 
he had this sense of fear. 

Well, my dear children, this is just the 
way with us in the Christian life, and in the 
matter of serving God. We must get into 
the way of obeying by practice, and of mak- 
ing the will keep the body in subjection. St. 
Paul says in one place, "I keep under my 
body, and bring it into subjection, lest that 
by any means, when I have preached to oth- 
ers, I myself should be a castaway." It is by 
patient continuance in well-doing that we are 
to be made strong in the service of Jesus 
Christ. 

Now, dear children, what have you got to 
begin with? Remember this sermon about 



Small Beginnings. 215 

small beginnings. Eemember these three 
lessons : — 

1st. God has given us all something to begin 
with. 

2d. We must begin with what we have. 

3d. More strength will come by practice; and 
when you feel like giving up, or think that 
you can not accomplish any thing, for your 
Master in heaven, because you are not great, 
and strong, and powerful, remember what our 
Lord said to the disciples, when they did not 
know how it was possible to feed the hungry 
multitude : — 

"How many loaves have ye?" 

What have you got to begin with? 



X. 



Suajr's Carpenters. 



NOAH'S CARPENTERS. 

* ' All the prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you 
yourselves thrust out." — Luke xiii. 28. 

/j£VERY boy, who has ever read the history 
^1^ of Robinson Crusoe, remembers what a 
hard time he had, in building and launching 
his boat, on his desert island. He built his 
boat too far away from the sea, and though 
he had carefully prepared it, he found after 
all, that he could not use the boat he had 
built with such care. He teas left out of Ms 
oivn boat 

I remember in the philosophy book I used 
to study, when I was a little boy in school, 
the story of a boy who tried to raise himself 
in a basket. But he found that the harder 
he tried to pull himself up with his hands, 
the more surely he kept himself down with 
his feet. He could carry the basket, but he 
could not carry himself in the basket. 

Now, it is a great thing in life, to be able 



220 The Palace Beautiful. 

to build our own boats, and carry our own 
baskets, and not to make things, which, after 
all, we can not use. I want to talk to you 
to-day, my dear children, about this old Bible 
story of Noah and his times, and about the 
men who helped Noah to save himself, and 
his family, and yet were lost themselves. 
For, while Noah sailed in the ark with his 
family, over the world that was drowned, he 
sailed over the dead bodies of those very 
carpenters, who had helped him to build the 
ark, in which he and his were saved. 

The story of Noah we all remember in the 
Old Testament history. The days were very 
wicked. The people were given up entirely 
to sin. It was just like some fearful epidemic 
or fever, that rages through our cities in the 
winter-time, or like the cholera, or the yellow 
fever, in the cities of the South. Everybody 
seemed to have caught the fever of sin. Men 
and women and children, lived, and thought, 
and breathed, in this atmosphere of wicked- 
ness. I do not suppose we can imagine, how 
vr ery wicked, these people were. 



Noah's Carpenters. 221 

About a hundred years ago, the ruined 
cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were dis- 
covered, and were dug out from, the ashes, in 
which they had been buried by the eruption 
of Mount Vesuvius, so that travellers to- 
day are able to see in the pictures, and 
signs, and paintings, on the walls of the 
houses, the exact condition of those wicked, 
and luxurious Roman people. And just as 
Mount Vesuvius seemed to bury these wicked 
cities, in its avalanche of ashes, and hide 
them from view, so it seemed in the days 
of Noah, as if the only way to stop the 
wickedness of the world, was to wash it 
away, with the flood of God's anger. But 
there was one good and just man named 
Noah. He and his family were the wit- 
nesses to God. They did not join in the 
sin of their age. They believed in their Fa- 
ther in heaven, and worshipped him, though 
men ridiculed them, and laughed at them. 

One day, we do not know how it came 
about, there came a voice from God to this 
just man, telling him to begin to build a 



222 The Palace Beautiful. 

mammoth ark, in which he and his family, 
could be saved from the coming storm. It 
might have been, that this came to Noah 
by a dream, or it may have been as he was 
walking in the woods, or away from the 
crowded city where he lived ; perhaps it 
might have been in some evening sunset, 
when the voices of nature seem so kind 
and tender, or it may have been when Noah 
was saying his prayers to God that he had 
a vision of the coming doom. Or perhaps 
God sent his angel, to tell him, as Ga- 
briel came to Daniel, and to the aged priest 
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. 
However this may be, Noah perceived that 
it was God in heaven, who was speaking 
to him, and that this plan which was brought 
to his mind, of building the ark, came from 
God, and that it was his duty to obey. This 
seemed a great undertaking, to the pious 
Noah. He was to build an ark, that would 
contain his family, with the necessary pro- 
visions, together with two of every living 
creature, on the face of the earth. It was 



Noah's Carpenters. 223 

to be built in a certain manner, in which. God 
instructed him, and the measurement was 
given to him, the length and the height 
and the depth, and all the particulars, of 
the way in which it was to be finished. 
How could Noah ever do it? I suppose 
Noah began by talking to his wife and to 
his sons, about the vision he had had from 
God. Then he may have talked to some of 
his friends, and to the people in the place 
where he lived. They did not believe, that 
there was any great storm, coming. Some of 
them no doubt laughed at him, and scoffed, 
but Noah went bravely on, to fulfil the com- 
mand which God had given him. He must 
have engaged a great many carpenters to 
help him, in building this mammoth ark. 
If you boys, ever have been to the shipyards, 
and have seen the men cutting and hewing 
the ribs, and have listened to the sound of 
the adzes, and the noise of the hammers, 
you will remember what a busy scene a 
shipyard presents, when the workmen are 
preparing a vessel to be launched. 



224 The Palace Beautiful. 

Over here at the Charlestown navy-yard, 
the other day, I went in to see the men, 
refurnishing the old sloop-of-war Hartford, 
the ship in which Admiral Farragut, went 
through the fiery storm of battle. 

Shipyards are always busy places, but in 
the place where Noah lived, it took him 
with his carpenters, one hundred and twenty 
years, to prepare this great and wonderful 
ark. You know in those old days of the 
antediluvian patriarchs, (that is, of those 
who lived before the flood) people lived to 
a very great age. But even then, a hun- 
dred and twenty years was a long time, to 
spend in preparing a vessel, such as this. 
How many nights Noah must have gone to 
his home, wondering about this great event, 
that was to come! How many evenings, I 
suppose, these carpenters who had helped 
him in the day-time, went back again to 
their families with their pay, laughing about 
the folly of the poor old man, as they thought 
of the foolishness of such an undertaking, as 
the building of the ark. But at last the 



Noah's Carpenters. 225 

ark is ready, the last nail is driven in, the 
last piece of timber is put in its place, 
the plank to the door is laid, and the work 
is done. 

Then there came a wonderful event ! Ani- 
mals know a great deal more, than we imag- 
ine they do. The sheep and cattle can al- 
ways tell, when a thunderstorm is coming 
on. They huddle together, and like to get 
near the barn and under shelter. I have 
seen chickens and geese, leave a meadow 
pond and make their way to the barnyard, 
when the first faint sound of thunder has 
been heard, and long before any drops of 
rain have fallen. Well, I suppose in very 
much some such way as this, the animals of 
the world which then was, perceived that, 
which the men of the day, failed to recog- 
nize. And then, besides this, we must be- 
lieve, that just as the children's toy fishes 
and ducks, are drawn by the magnet through 
the water, so these animals were drawn to 
the ark, as the place of safety by the mag- 
netic power, of God's attraction. Then, when 



226 The Palace Beautiful. 

the animals were safely in their places, in 
the ark, Noah and his three sons and their 
wives, left their home, and entered this mam- 
moth wooden refuge place, and we are told 
that God shut them in. Then came the thun- 
der and the rain, the lightning from heaven, 
and the unloosening of the springs of the 
earth. Then the vials of God's wrath which 
had been held back all those years while the 
ark was preparing, were emptied upon the 
sinning earth, and all the prophets were in 
the kingdom of God, for the kingdom of God 
was then in the ark, and the very men who 
helped to build the ark, were themselves left 
out. 

We all know this story of Noah and the 
ark. It is one of the old and well-known 
Bible stories, but then we fail to realize its 
full meaning. Think of this drowned world 
for forty days and forty nights, receiving the 
pitiless storm and rain. Think of the many 
families, climbing to the highest peaks for 
shelter, only to find at last, the water reach- 
ing them, even on the mountain tops. Think 



Noah's Carpenters. 227 

of the very men who helped Noah, as they 
built the ribs of that great vessel, watching 
the ark floating safely, while they themselves 
were doomed to die. So much for our story 
then. Now let us see what lessons we learn, 
from this story of Noah's carpenters, left out 
of the very ark, they themselves helped to 
build. 



We may help others to be saved without being 
saved ourselves, 

I remember two ministers once, who were 
waiting at a railroad junction, for the train 
that was to take them east People came 
into the depot, and inquired about the trains 
and asked them which road they were to 
take, on their way to New York. These two 
clergymen pointed out the way, to a number 
of people, and then went on with their very 
interesting talk on theology. At last the 
bell rang. They seized their valises, and got 
on board the train, took their sleeping berths, 
and woke up the next morning in Cincin- 



228 The Palace Beautiful. 

nati, instead of finding themselves at the 
42d Street depot, in New York. They had 
helped a number of people to the right train, 
but they themselves were carried west, when 
all the time they wanted to go east. 

Now it is a great thing to be able to help 
other people, and to save them from trouble, 
but it will do us very little good ourselves, 
if we are like Noah's carpenters, and are 
not at the last, sure of our own safety. 

A sign-post is a good friend, to help us on 
our way, as it points with its friendly finger, 
but the sign-post never goes to the journey's 
end, though it helps a great many people to 
their destination. And God wants us to be 
sign-posts in this world, only he wants us to 
be sign-posts that will walk. We are not 
to be stuck in the ground, and help others 
into the kingdom, while we ourselves are 
left out. 

Some years ago a young sea captain, the 
son of a clergyman, after knocking all about 
the world, went to the western coast of Africa. 
Here he was met by the missionaries, and 



Noah's Carpenters. 229 

warmly welcomed because of all that his 
father, and the Church in this country, had 
done for the African mission. He went to 
the church, and visited the Sunday-school, 
and saw the missionaries, and gave accounts 
of all that was going on here in this country, 
and when at last the missionaries said to 
him, "Now, captain, you must get up in the 
pulpit, and talk to our natives about the 
Church at home," this sea captain, who had 
never been a Christian, and did not go to 
church, and who had never made a speech, 
or preached a sermon before, was ashamed 
to be a white heathen, in the presence of so 
many black Christians, and so it came to 
pass, that it was the very heathen them- 
selves, who in the end converted him. That 
voyage to Africa, made the sea captain be- 
come one of the prophets in the kingdom of 
God, and not one of the carpenters, who 
helped to build the ark, and was then left 
out. 



230 The Palace Beautiful. 

II. 

We may he in the majority, and yet he in 
the wrong. 

I suppose Noah's carpenters, formed a great 
gang of men. They must have gone to their 
homes, after the work of the day was over, 
deriding the old patriarch, and making a 
great deal of fun out of the huge boat they 
were building. Yet Noah was in the right, 
though he was all alone, and they were in 
the wrong, though there were so many of 
them. There is one verse in the Epistle to 
the Hebrews, which shows us the true char- 
acter of Noah, and the reward which God 
gave to him. It is this: 

"By faith, Noah being warned of God, of 
things not seen as yet, moved with fear, 
prepared an ark to the saving of his house, 
by the which he condemned the world, and 
became heir of the righteousness which is 
by faith." 

The men of Noah's time, passed judgment 
upon Noah. They may have said, " How 
foolish such a work as this is! Who ever 



Noah's Carpenters. 231 

heard of such a thing ! How could such a 
deluge ever come," — and yet it was Noah 
who condemned tlie world, though he was all 
alone: it was not the tvorld that condemned 
Noah. It was Noah, who became the heir 
of that righteousness, which belongs to all 
those, who have faith in God. He became 
the lord and master of the new world. It 
is very hard to be alone, and stand up alone 
in the right. Columbus was alone, as he 
stood before the Court of Spain, and de- 
clared his faith in the fact of the Western 
World, and yet all Europe was against him. 
The pilgrims in the "Mayflower" were 
alone, as they entered Plymouth bay, and 
signed the compact in that little ark, which 
had carried them over the stormy Atlantic, 
and they became heirs to the new life of 
this Western World. Samuel Adams, and 
Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin, and 
their fellows were a little band, as they 
stood together in the defence of their homes, 
in these North American colonies. They 
were right, though the world was opposed 



232 The Palace Beautiful. 

to them. They condemned the world, though 
the world at that day condemned them. And 
in this way, they became the heirs of that 
righteousness, which always comes from faith 
in freedom. 

When Washington was with his troops, 
in the painfulness and weariness of the win- 
ter camp at Valley Forge, at the darkest 
hour of the Revolutionary War, and when 
the British were in Philadelphia, in the midst 
of those scenes of gaiety, in which Major 
Andre was a prominent character, it seemed 
as if the head of the American army was alone, 
and as if all the chances were against his 
success. Yet Washington with his tattered 
troops, in the snow of their encampment, 
was in the right. He became the heir to 
the country's future, and to all that love and 
devotion of the people that were to come 
after him. 

There is a story in church history about 
Athanasius, the great defender of the doc- 
trine of the Trinity, at the Council of Nice. 
Some of the most learned bishops and coun- 



Noah's Carpenters. 233 

sellors, were opposed to the views which he 
presented. He declared that the Son of God 
was divine, and that there was never a time, 
when he was not. The philosophers who 
helped to form this council, disputed with 
Athanasius. Some of them said, " You will 
stand alone in your view." Nothing terri- 
fied, Athanasius replied, " Athanasius contra- 
mundem." (Athanasius stands against the 
world ! ) He felt that he could stand against 
the world, because he knew that he was 
right. And in this same way, Noah's faith, 
carried him through the perils and the trials 
of his long life of preparation. He stood 
alone, against the world — and by his faith, 
condemned the world's wickedness. 

III. 

A third lesson we learn from this subject 
is, that God rewards those that are true to 
him, 

I suppose we can not begin to imagine, 
what Noah's trials must have been. Even 
his sons, and his wife, perhaps, and his fam- 



234 The Palace Beautiful. 

ily, could not understand the meaning of 
his faith. Those of you who have read the 
" Pilgrim's Progress," will remember how at 
last, poor Christian had to fly away, from 
the very ones he loved the most, from his 
wife and little children, because they did 
not believe in any Celestial City, and could 
not understand, why he would not stay with 
them, in the City of Destruction. It did not 
seem a City of Destruction to them. They 
could not understand, how any one could 
leave the pleasures of home, for the uncer- 
tainty of a long journey, to a land that was 
very far off. It is very hard indeed, to have 
to stand alone. When one is called to a hard 
post of duty, it is a great help and comfort 
to us, to have friends and companions with 
us. Henry Martyn, the great missionary in 
India, said that when he went out from Eng- 
land, and from the companionship of Chris- 
tian friends, to the thousands who were 
steeped in heathenism, it was well-nigh un- 
bearable, that it seemed to him, as if he 
could not stand up to his work alone. And 



Noah's Carpenters. 235 

yet Noah had his reward, simply in the fact 
that he was warned of God, of things not 
seen as yet. He believed in God's word, 
and in the assurance of those things which 
were yet to come about, even though he 
did not see them. It is always the great 
and the noble and the true, who when they 
are warned of God, find their reward in obey- 
ing him. These people, see things, which the 
lower world is not able to comprehend. 

There is one place in " Pilgrim's Progress," 
where we read that Faithful was tempted by 
Wanton, to turn aside from his pilgrimage, 
and live in sin. Faithful told Christian, as 
they were travelling together to the heav- 
enly country, that she had a very flattering 
tongue, and promised him all manner of con- 
tent. 

"Ah!" said Christian, "but she did not 
promise you the content of a good con- 
science." 

Now it is the content of a good conscience, 
which is God's greatest reward to us, for our 
service to him. A good conscience is to the 



236 The Palace Beautiful. 

soul, what a good digestion is to the body; 
it helps us to enjoy life. It makes us feel 
happy and bright in the service of God, in- 
stead of feeling weak, and lagging in the 
march. The strain on Noah's faith, for a 
hundred and twenty years, while he was 
building the ark, was very great, and yet 
at the last God's reward to his faithful ser- 
vant, was in exact proportion to that faithful 
servant's faith. He was carried through the 
storm. He was carried over a world that 
had been drowned. He came from the slopes 
of Mount Ararat, where the ark rested, down 
to the beautiful and smiling world again, and 
when he reared his altar, and offered his sac- 
rifice, God rewarded him with that bow of 
promise, telling him that he would never 
again, destroy the world with water. And 
every time we see the rainbow in the sky, 
it is a sign of God's reward, and promise 
to his faithful servant who obeyed him. 

Now then, my dear children, I want you 
to remember these three lessons, from this 
sermon about Noah's carpenters. 



Noah's Carpenters. 237 

1st. We may help others to be saved, without 
being saved ourselves. 

2d. We may be in the majority, and yet may 
be ivrong. 

3d. God rewards all those who are true and 
faithful to him. 

Very well then, as you receive your Sun- 
day-school instruction, as you come to church, 
as you hear God's word taught and preached, 
as you give your money to help on the mis- 
sionary cause, do not be building up a mission- 
ary ark for heathen lands, and yet be left out 
of it yourselves. 



XI 



istjrhf anlbr JUrrflfo. 



MISCHIEF AND SORROW. 

"Call for Samson that he may make us sport. And 
they called for Samson out of the prison house." — 
Judges xvi. 25. 

^"HERE is an old saying, that if we would 
v-L^ be happy at the party, we must be able 
to pay the piper afterwards. We may have 
a merry time at the company, in the com- 
panionship of friends, and the delights of 
society, but it very often happens that there 
comes a long bill afterwards, so that the 
saying " paying the piper," comes to mean, 
that we must be able to pay for the fun. 

You know how it is in travelling. The 
last thing that a person does, at the hotel, 
where he may have been spending some 
days, is to pay up the bill. When travel- 
lers are abroad, in Europe, and especially 
in Switzerland, when they have been mak- 
ing tours over the mountains, and have 



242 The Palace Beautiful. 

been "using guides, and mules, and have 
taken provisions with them for their long 
excursions, the last thing that one does, 
as he gets on the u Diligence," before going 
to the next town, is to pay the bill for all 
this pleasure received. 

Boys know how it is on the Fourth of 
July, when they have money to spend in 
fire-crackers, and torpedoes, and* fireworks. 
The fun comes out on the Fourth of July, 
with the fireworks, and the next day the 
boys are generally going round with burnt 
fingers, and smoked eyebrows, with broken 
ends of the fire-crackers, which they have 
picked up on the day after "the Fourth." 

In other words, when we want to have 
fun, and a good time, it generally happens 
that we will have to pay for our fun — that 
the fun will go down in a bill, which we 
have got to foot up and settle. 

Now the story of Samson, in the Bible, 
is the story of a man whose nature was 
filled with a love of mischief. He acted 
like one of the sophomore boys in college; 



Mischief and Sorrow. 243 

boys who are supposed to be studying Latin, 
and Greek, and mathematics, but who are 
continually devising new means to have a 
good time, with plenty of frolic. We can 
not read Samson's life, without being struck 
by the fact, that here was a man who seemed 
like an overgrown boy. It was the great 
delight of his life to be making fun of the 
Philistines, and teasing them in every way. 
He played all sorts of jokes and pranks 
upon them, and never seems to have been 
so happy as when he was getting the Philis- 
tines into tight places; asking them riddles 
which they could not answer, and giv- 
ing them all sorts of mischievous trouble 
— -just like a boy, let loose from school at 
vacation-time, teasing his sisters. And yet 
the mischief of Samson's early life, ended 
at last in the great sorrows of his own lat- 
ter days, and he who had been such a soph- 
omore boy, making fun of all those who 
were about him, ended at last in being the 
sport, of those very ones, whom he himself 
had originally teased. 



244 The Palace Beautiful. 

Now this story, where our text is found 
to-day, shows us at last, how it came to 
pass, that the very man who had made fun 
of the Philistines, was used by these Philis- 
tines themselves in turn, to be their sport. 

The Philistines caught Samson at last, 
u and put out his eyes, and brought him 
down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters 
of brass; and he did grind in the prison 
house." 

We can see this poor old man with our 
mind's eye. He who had originally been so 
fresh, and bright, with his strength now de- 
parted from him, became a slave in the house 
of the Philistines, the mischief of his early 
days having all given place to the sorrow of 
his latter ones. Then we read "that the lords 
of the Philistines gathered them together for 
to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their 
god, and to rejoice; for they said, Our god 
hath delivered Samson our enemy into our 
hand. And when the people saw him, they 
praised their god; for they said, Our god 
hath delivered into our hands our enemy, 



Mischief and Sorrow. 245 

and the destroyer of our country, which slew 
many of us. And it came to pass, when their 
hearts were merry, that they said, Call for 
Samson, that he may make us sport. And 
they called for Samson out of the prison 
house; and he made them sport: and they 
set him between the pillars. And Samson 
said unto the lad that held him by the hand, 
Suffer me that I may feel the pillars where- 
upon the house standeth, that I may lean 
upon them. Now the house was full of 
men and women; and all the lords of the 
Philistines were there ; and there were upon 
the roof about three thousand men and 
women, that beheld while Samson made 
sport. And Samson called unto the Lord, 
and said, Lord God, remember me, I 
pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, 
only this once, God, that I may be 
at once avenged of the Philistines for my 
two eyes. And Samson took hold of the 
two middle pillars, upon which the house 
stood, and on which it was borne up, of the 
one with his right hand, and of the other 



246 The Palace Beautiful. 

with his left. And Samson said, Let me 
die with the Philistines. And he bowed 
himself with all his might; and the house 
fell upon the lords, and upon all the people 
that were therein. So the dead which he 
slew at his death were more than they 
which he slew in his life. Then his breth- 
ren, and all the house of his father came 
down, and took him, and brought him up, 
and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol 
in the burying-place of Manoah his father. 
And he judged Israel twenty years." — Judges 
xvi. 23-31. 

Such was the end of one, who had orig- 
inally been nothing but a mischief-maker. 
Such was the sorrow, in his latter days, of 
the man whose early life, had been spent 
only in mischief. 

The poet Milton has some wonderful lines 
in his poem of " Samson Agonistes," about 
the story of poor Samson's prison life; and 
Handel, the great composer, in his famous 
oratorio of Samson, describes, with the sound 
of trumpets, and the musical instruments of 



Mischief and Sorrow. 247 

the orchestra, the crash of the falling build- 
ing, and the shriek of the Philistines, who 
had gathered to make sport of him, who had 
originally considered them his sport. 

Now I want to speak to you to-day about 
Mischief and Sorrow. These are the two 
extremes of life. Mischief comes in the 
morning and sorrow comes at night. 

There are three thoughts in this subject. 

1st. Why toe have mischief, 

2d. Why we have sorrow. 

3d. Why it is that mischief brings sorrow. 

I. 

First, then, why do we have mischief? Mis- 
chief is something, which is found in all 
young creatures. You can see it in kittens 
as they play upon the kitchen floor, in colts 
and heifers, as they are let loose in the past- 
ure, in little puppies as they are playing in 
their basket in the barn. All young ani- 
mals love to tease their mothers and give 
them all sorts of trouble. 

One can not look at a company of frogs in 



248 The Palace Beautiful. 

a pond, without seeing in their faces, and 
in their great wide mouths, a sense of mis- 
chief; and I am sure a monkey, is the very 
picture of mischief. Now in all young life, 
we find this effervescent froth of fun, of lov- 
ing to have a frolic, of having so much life 
within, that it must bubble out. It is the 
sparkle of life, it is the fullness of life, just 
as the waves and their tossing spray on the 
seashore at the high tide, seem to delight to 
play with the rocks, and throw themselves 
upon the shore. 

This is one meaning of mischief then. 
It is the fullness of life; it is the bubbling 
over of power, which is seeking to find a 
vent, just as steam, finds its way out from 
the over-heated boiler, through the chimney. 

In that interesting book for boys, "Rollo 
on the Atlantic," there is a story of a boy 
on board the ship, who was not loaded down 
with any sense of duty. He was just like a 
colt, or a young heifer — full of his pranks 
and his fun. People called Eollo's friend on 
board the ship, a very bad boy ; but the trou- 



Mischief and Sorrow. 249 

ble was that the poor boy was not freighted 
or loaded with any responsibility or duty; 
he had nothing to do; and to be happy 
and useful, we must have our minds occu- 
pied. So when one of the passengers, took 
hold of this mischief-maker, and set him at 
work, and made a useful little fellow of him, 
the boy's mischief disappeared ; it spent itself 
in work. Just as the freshness of the colt 
disappears, when he gets into the shafts and 
harness, and the kicking manners of the 
heifer, all are lost, when he puts his head 
as a solemn old ox, in the yoke — so our love 
of mischief disappears when we are put to 
work ! 

When I was a little boy, I had a pet 
monkey given to me. We made a house 
for him in the play-room, and had a ladder 
leading up to it from the floor, so that lie 
could walk up to his house, where we had 
a swing for him. We tried to make him 
feel as much at home as we could; but 
Jocko did not have enough to do. Our 
ropes and swings did not take the place of 



250 The Palace Beautiful. 

the trees in Africa; so this monkey's pent- 
up life used to find its vent in making all 
manner of mischief: in hiding spoons and 
spools and pin-cushions, and all sorts of 
things found in the room. This animal was 
mischievous, because he was out of his place. 
He wanted to be living a monkey life, and 
it was hard to do this in a room filled with 
people: so the life that was in him, bubbled 
out in mischief. 

And then, too, this love of mischief, which 
we have in our nature, is something more 
than the mere bubbling up of fresh life. 
Sometimes I wonder why it is, that certain 
people like to tease others. Some people do 
not care to tease, some people have no sense 
of fun, some do not think about mischief. 
But I think the reason why we love to tease, 
is, because in this way we feel our power 
over people. If people do not mind our 
teasing, we learn to stop it after a while; 
but people that are easily teased, will always 
find others to tease them. Samson seems to 
have taken a great delight in feeling his 



Mischief and Sorrow. 251 

power over the Philistines, and the more 
fun he made of them, and the more mischief 
he got out of them, the more it seemed to 
trouble them, and to make them very angry. 
And yet, just as clouds, blowing in a cer- 
tain way across the sky, will be sure to brew 
up a storm ; so all this mischief in Samson's 
life, resulted at last in the sorrow of his old 
age, when he was a prisoner, in the hands of 
those, whom he had in his youth derided. 

II. 

The second lesson of our subject is, the 
reason why ive have sorrow. 

Sorrow is the very extreme of mischief. 
Mischief comes to us when we are children ; 
sorrow comes to us when we grow old. Sor- 
row is at the very extreme of life, and is 
farthest away from the days of our mischief. 
It always seems to me, that sorrow is like 
winter in the country. How dead every 
thing seems in w T inter! The little brook 
that used to chatter in the summer, the 
cosey dell that was overshadowed with 



252 The Palace Beautiful. 

trees; the grove, where we may have sat 
and played; the pond where the ducks used 
to be, at evening time; the hillside where 
we used to climb, are now all covered with 
snow. Every thing seems hard and crisp, and 
so changed, from what it is in the spring, or 
the summer, in its covering of green. 

And this is just the way life seems to us 
at times, when we have our troubles. It 
seems as if the springs of life were frozen; 
as if all the bright spots in life, that had 
once been green and fresh and lovely, were 
now covered from our sight. Away up in 
the Splugen Pass, in Switzerland, there is a 
little bubbling stream, which goes on jump- 
ing its way over the rocks, and then flows 
down the mountain side. This stream is the 
source of the great river Rhine — and then 
after flowing many miles to the north, this 
same river Rhine, that once was so fresh 
and buoyant and full of life, is pumped out 
into the North Sea, at Rotterdam, simply 
because it does not seem to have tide power 
enough of itself, to empty itself into the sea. 



Mischief and Sorrow. 253 

What a picture this is of the two extremes 
of life — the mischief and the fun of youth, 
and the sorrow of old age. And yet there 
is a reason why we have mischief in the 
morning, and sorrow at night. This life of 
ours is just like a ship at sea: first it bends 
upon one side, and then it bends upon the 
other. 

God has written in this life of ours, what 
is called the law of the equivalent in na- 
ture. It is like the pendulum which swings 
first one way, and then the other. I have 
seen very quiet parents, who have had the 
noisiest children, and very quiet children, 
whose parents have been full of frolic. God 
seems to take care in this world, that things 
shall right themselves; that we shall not go 
to too great extremes. 

It would not do for us to have sorrow 
when we are young, and mischief when we 
are old; for then life would have no mean- 
ing to us, when we come to die. But we 
have fun and freshness in our early days, 
in order to lead us on into life ; and then sor- 



254 The Palace Beautiful. 

row comes at last, to make us feel that this 
world is not all, and that this is not our 
rest. 

Some of our sorrows come from God, and 
these have a divine meaning, and some of 
our sorrows are from ourselves, and we have 
only ourselves to blame for them. 

III. 

And this brings us to the third lesson of 
our subject, why it is that mischief brings 
sorrow. 

Mischief brings us to sorrow at the last, 
just as the days that we have spent' at the 
hotel, in the summer vacation, bring us to 
paying the bill, for all these delights that 
are passed. In other words, we have to pay 
for every thing in this world; and those 
things which we think we have had with- 
out money, we will find at last, are wait- 
ing, on a long list to be settled for. Chil- 
dren play and tease each other, until some 
one is hurt, and then the game which be- 
gan with so much fun and noise, is stopped, 



Mischief and Sorrow. 255 

with tears and angry words. That is what 
we have to pay for our fan at times. 

St. Paul says in one place, "Whatsoever 
a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 
Truer words than these were never spoken. 
When the first settlers came to the Western 
world, the great problem which stared them 
in the face, was, the way in which they 
were to deal with the Indians, whom they 
found here. 

When William Penn landed at Philadel- 
phia, and signed the treaty with the In- 
dians, under the old tree which used to 
stand at Kensington, he sowed a policy of 
peace, which brought him in the end, the 
delights of peace as a harvest of joy. But 
many of the other colonists, thought the 
way to deal with the Indians was, to deal 
with them, as Samson did with the Philis- 
tines; so they used to tease them, and 
worry them, and get all they could out of 
them, and take no thought for the morrow. 
But the dreadful wars which took place, 
under King Philip the Indian, and the fear- 



256 The Palace Beautiful. 

ful massacres which were enacted here, as 
we can remember in the story of the massa- 
cre of Wyoming, were the sorrow, which 
came as the bill, that was to be paid in the 
end, for all this mischief at the beginning. 

And our country to-day, in its Indian wars 
with Sitting Bull and Standing Bear, is pay- 
ing the bill, in sorrow, for all the mischief, 
that has been made in days that have gone 
before. 

Now, my dear children, think of poor Sam- 
son's end, and contrast it with his fresh be- 
ginning. How little he ever thought, in his 
younger mischievous days, of the long bill 
he would have to pay, for all this fun, .at 
the end ! He did not see the end from the 
beginning. He did not see the sorrow, that 
was planted in the seed of all his mischief, 
and so it came to pass, that he who had 
made sport of his enemies, became in turn, 
their sport, and we read that the Philistines 
said, "Call for Samson that he may make 
us sport; and they called for Samson out of 
the prison house, and he made them sport." 



Mischief and Sorrow. 257 

Let us learn to control our mischief, and 
to manage our sorrows; and let us see to 
it, that the mischief of our young days, does 
not bring us a heavy bill of sorrow, to be 
paid for at the end. 



XII. 



^arlg Slanting. 



EARLY PLANTING. 

"Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if 
the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and 
the pomegranates bud forth." — Song of Solomon vii. 12. 

/jjfViSrE of the hardest lessons, we have to 
^^ learn, in our young days, is the habit 
of getting up early, through all winds and 
weathers. This may be an easy thing, to 
do in summer time, but it is very hard 
work, in the cold, short days of winter. 
In fact, it takes some of us a whole life- 
time, to learn this lesson, of getting up 
early. We may read that, 

" Early to bed, and early to rise, 
"Will make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." 

We may hear it at school, and our pa- 
rents may teach us this lesson, and all our 



262 The Palace Beautiful. 

friends, may advise us to get up early in 
the morning; and yet, one of the hardest 
things to do, in life, is to leave a pleasant 
fire, at night, in winter, and go early to 
bed, on purpose that we may get up early, 
in the morning. In fact, the longer we stay 
up at night, the less we want to go to bed. 
I have great sympathy, with all those boys 
and girls, who find it hard to " get up early 
to the vineyards, to see whether the vines 
flourish, whether the tender grapes appear, 
and the pomegranates bud forth"; in other 
words, to take up a hard Latin book, or de- 
finer, or history lesson. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, once said, — and he 
was a man who could fall asleep at all 
times, and get up whenever he wanted to 
— that what he wanted, in his soldiers, who 
were to be his body-guard, was " four o'clock 
bravery." He meant, by this, the bravery of 
those who were able to get up on cold, dark 
mornings, and march forth, without knowing 
where they were going. 

On these cold, dark mornings, when the 



Early Planting. 263 

stars are still shining, and the moon is in 
the heavens, and the sun has not begun to 
appear, it is hard work to leave one's warm, 
cosey bed, and get up, and deliberately be- 
gin the duties of the day. And yet, think 
how many people do this regularly, with- 
out our ever stopping to consider their 
life-work. Think of the farmers, and the 
milkmen, and the countrymen, going into 
the city. Think of the cows that must be 
milked, and the horses that must be fed, 
and of the work that must be done on a 
farm. Think of all the farmers, with their 
wagons, coming into our cities, early in the 
morning, so as to be ready for the market 
time. 

Surely, farmers are men, whose success 
in life, depends upon getting up early to 
the vineyards, to see whether their vines 
are flourishing. 

We are continually being talked to, by 
our friends, and parents, about this life- 
long lesson, of getting up early in the 
morning. 



264 The Palace Beautiful. 

Yoti know there is an old saying, that 
the early bird catches the first worm. I 
remember two answers to this. 

One boy, when his mother told him this 
maxim, said, u There, I told you so; that 
was the worm's fault. If he had not been 
up so early in the morning, he would not 
have been caught." 

Another boy said, "Well, what is the use 
of my getting up early in the morning, after 
the worms; mother won't let me go fishing." 

But in this proverb, about the early bird, 
success is looked at altogether from the side 
of the birds, and not from the side of the 
worms. We don't know what proverb the 
worms have about getting up early. 

But, like many other of these maxims, 
we must not be too particular about it, but 
mudt take it for the sense that there is in it. 

In the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book 
of Proverbs, there is a description of the 
man who lay in bed late, while his vines 
were overgrown with weeds. We all know 
these words: "I went by the field of the 



Early Planting. 265 

slothful, and by the vineyard of the man 
void of understanding; and lo, it was all 
grown over with thorns, and nettles had 
covered the face thereof, and the stone wall 
thereof was broken down. Then I saw and 
considered it well; I looked upon it, and 
received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a 
little slumber, a little folding of the hands 
to sleep; so shall thy poverty come as one 
that travelleth, and thy want as an armed 
man." 

We can remember, in our nursery rhyme 
book, in the divine and moral songs of Dr. 
Watts, who wrote so many hymns for chil- 
dren, that hymn which is based upon these 
lines. It is this: 

"'Tis the voice of the sluggard, 

I heard him complain, 
You have waked me too soon, 

I must slumber again; 
As the door on its hinges, 

So he on his bed, 
Turns his sides and his shoulders, 

And his heavy head. 



266 The Palace Beautiful. 

"I passed by his garden, 

And saw the wild briar, 
The thorn and the thistle 

Grow broader and higher; 
The clothes that hang on him, 

Are turning to rags, 
And his money still wastes, 

Till he starves or he begs. 

"Said I then to my heart, 

Here's a lesson for me, 
That man's but a picture, 

Of what I might be: 
But, thanks to my friends, 

For their care in my breeding, 
Who have taught me betimes % 

To love working and reading." 

Now, our text to-day, has to do, with early 
planting, and brings ns to look at some of 
the principles of success in farm life; or, 
how it is that we may be able to reap 
good results from our efforts. 

What do we learn now from this subject, 
" Let us get up early to the vineyards, let 
us see if the vine flourish, whether the ten- 
der grape appear, and the pomegranates 
bud forth "? 



Early Planting. 267 

I. 

First of all, we learn that, morning is the 
time for looking after our garden. 

We all know how hot it is to work at 
mid-day, when the sun of noon is in the 
heavens, and all is heated and oppressive. 
Very early in the morning, is the time 
for us to be looking after our gardens; 
for then we can work in the cool of the 
day, and then the sun is not so powerful, 
and we are fresh for our work. 

There was a great French painter some 
years ago, named Corot, who used to get 
up early in the morning, in order to paint 
some of the beautiful scenes of nature in 
the spring-time, in April, and May, and 
June. People have said that Corot's pic- 
tures were all imagination, that there could 
be no truth in them, because there never 
were such clouds, and there never was such 
a sky seen in nature, as he has painted upon 
the canvas. But there are just two hours 
in the day, which were the hours, that this 
French painter always loved to work in. 



268 The Palace Beautiful. 

It was the hour just before, and just after 
sunset, and when people say that Corot's 
pictures were unreal, and untrue, because 
they never saw such clouds, and skies, and 
light, and shade, and water, as he had on 
his canvas, it simply shows that they never 
were up early in the morning, looking if 
the trees were flourishing, and seeing the 
beauty which there is in the first fresh 
hours of an opening June day. 

Morning is the time for doing our best 
work; morning is the time for looking after 
that which we have sown, and planted the 
day before ; morning is the time when work' 
can be done, before the other duties of the 
day come on, crowding in upon us and hur- 
rying us. There is a calmness, and a leisure, 
and a gentleness in the first opening hours 
of the day, that we never have in the other 
hours. We can think better, we can work 
better, we can have happier, holier, thoughts 
in the fresh hours of morning, than we can 
at any other time. 

There was a boy once in the country, 



Early Planting. 269 

who had a pet goat. This goat was a 
great delight to him. His name was Billy. 
The goat used to follow his little master 
all over the farm, and wait for him at the 
gate, when he was expected home from 
school. Billy was a great pet, and was 
very much spoiled by his little master. 
Frank's father had a garden on his place, 
and Frank himself had one. His father 
used to get up early in the morning, and 
look after his vines, his cucumbers, and his 
strawberries, and see that every thing was 
in good shape, while Frank was snoring in 
bed. But Billy the goat was very active, 
and was up with the first streak of day. 
He would go all over the place, trying to 
find what he could get, not only to eat, 
but also to nibble and destroy; for goats 
are very destructive animals to have about, 
and take great delight in destroying that 
which they can not use. They will chew 
up newspapers, library books, shoes, straps, 
and any thing they can find. Frank's fa- 
ther always kept his garden gate shut, so 



270 The Palace Beautiful. 

that Billy could only stand on his hind 
legs, and look wistfully over the fence. One 
day Frank said, "I wonder why it is that, 
though my cucumbers and vines grow, and 
my strawberry plants look fresh and green, 
I never have any fruit on them, while fa- 
ther has fruit." 

"Ah!" said his father, "ask Billy the 
goat, what he knows about the cucumbers 
and the strawberries. He gets up every 
morning at break of day, and pays his de- 
votions to the plants, and carefully nibbles 
off every sprout and berry, so that the rea- 
son why you have nothing but leaves to 
show, is because your goat is on the ground 
before you are" 

Well, my dear children, a great many of 
us, in our lives and characters, are like this 
boy, with his marauding goat. We might 
be successful, if we were only up to the 
times, if we did not let some destroying 
habit get into our life, as Billy the goat got 
into Frank's garden. Just as morning is the 
time for getting our gardens weeded, and in 



Early Planting. 271 

good trim, and in seeing that they are kept 
in good order, so our young days are the 
time, when we should have our characters 
trimmed, and weeded, and kept in good re- 
pair, from those destroying habits which are 
as ruthless and as reckless as goats in a 
garden. 

It is wonderful to think how we lose the 
power, in our minds, of creating new habits, 
or correcting old ones, when once they have 
become settled upon us. Our early days are 
the time for looking after our characters. 
Think how hard it is, as we grow older, to 
commit to memory a piece of poetry, which 
once it was so easy for us to do. Think in 
our childhood, how we could learn whole 
hymns, and texts, which now simply play 
around our minds, but never find a lodging- 
place there. We can not do at noontime, for 
our gardens, that which we can do at sun- 
rise, and so Solomon says in our text, "Let 
us get up early to the vineyard ; let us see if 
the vine flourish, whether the tender grape 
appear, and the pomegranates bud forth." 



272 The Palace Beautiful. 

II. 

Secondly we learn from this subject, that 
the same sun icliich makes jloivers, makes weeds. 

Here is a living tree, rooted and planted 
in the ground, and right by its side is a 
dead and fallen tree. The leaves are off the 
dead tree, and its roots are spread out to 
the sun. Now the sun in the heavens, and 
the rain which comes from the clouds, fall- 
ing upon the living tree, make it grow and 
thrive. The heat that is in the sun, and the 
moisture that is in the rain, help the rooted 
tree to become stronger in its rooted life. 
But the same sun, and the same rain, falling 
on the dead tree, help to rotten it, simply 
because its roots are out of the ground, and 
it does not get the sun and the rain, in the 
way which God has designed that trees shall 
live, by partaking of heat and moisture. 

And this is the parable which our Lord 
taught the disciples, in the thirteenth chap- 
ter of St. Matthew, when he said, "The king- 
dom of heaven is likened unto a man which 
soweth good seed in his field, but while men 



Early Planting. 273 

slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among 
the wheat, and went his way; but when the 
blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, 
then appeared the tares also. So the ser- 
vants of the householder came and said unto 
him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy 
field, from whence then hath it tares? He 
said unto them, An enemy hath done this. 
The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then 
that we go and gather them up ? but he said, 
Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye 
root up also the wheat with them. Let both 
grow together, until the harvest, and in the 
time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, 
Gather ye together first the tares, and bind 
them in bundles to burn them, but gather 
the wheat into my barn." 

Now it is surprising to think, that the 
same sun and the same rain which caused 
the wheat to grow, made the tares to appear 
also. And it is very strange to think that 
the same world, and the same influences that 
are around us in life, may make two boys 
turn out to be such different characters in 



274 The Palace Beautiful. 

the end. St. Paul says in one place, that the 
gospel which he preached, was to some, a 
savor of life unto life, and to others a savor 
of death unto death. He meant to teach us 
by these words, that the very thing which 
would make a good man good, might make 
an evil man more wicked. 

For instance, a well man and a sick man 
are put together in the sunshine. The well 
man says, " How delightful this is, the air is, 
so fine, and the sun shines so brightly ; how 
good it is to be in the open air ! " But the 
sick man says, " No, the sun makes my head 
ache, and the air gives me a chill." The rea- 
son is, that the man who is healthy, is living 
according to God's law of the supply of 
health, but the sick man, is like the tree that 
is not rooted in the ground. The evil of 
the disease must be taken away from him, 
before he can enjoy the sunshine, and the 
fresh air. 

I remember a certain book in the Sunday- 
school library, when I was a boy. It was 
about a good and a bad boy, who began life 



Early Planting. 275 

together. They went to the same school, and 
to the same church, and played in the same 
play -ground, and yet the good boy was con- 
tinually getting better, and stronger, and be- 
coming more of a man, while the boy that 
had the evil nature in him, though he was 
in the same surroundings as his companion, 
seemed to grow worse and worse, under 
those very influences which helped to make 
the other boy so good. At last one of them 
died, the pride and glory of the town, and 
on his tombstone was written the words, 
"The memory of the just is blessed," while 
the other boy died at last in jail, and under 
the picture of the pauper s coffin, in which 
he was buried, were the words, "The name 
of the wicked shall rot." 

This is a very strange and mysterious law, 
which we find in the world, and in our own 
souls, that the sun and the rain will help the 
living tree to grow, but will cause the dead 
tree only to rot. Therefore we ought to see 
to it, while we are young, that our good 
habits and resolutions are well rooted and 



276 The Palace Beautiful. 

grounded. We ought to get up early in the 
morning to our vineyard, to see whether the 
vines are flourishing, and whether the ten- 
der grapes are appearing; for the same sun 
which causes the flowers to grow, brings to 
the surface the weeds also. 

III. 

Thirdly, we learn, that if fruit does not ap- 
pear, then there come thorns and briars. 

" The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; 
first the blade, then the ear, then the full 
corn in the ear." These are the words of 
Jesus. It seems as if the soil, in this world 
of ours, did not like to lie barren, and that 
if fruit and flowers are not sown, weeds, and 
thorns, and briars will appear. This is what 
poor Adam and Eve found, when they were 
driven out of the garden of Eden. It was 
hard, rough gardening, outside the gates, 
compared with the pleasant work which it 
had been in the groves of Paradise. 

Now it is very surprising, how these out- 
side plants seem to come of themselves. Go 



Early Planting. 277 

through the woods, or up the country lanes, 
and see how the blueberry and blackberry 
bushes seem to grow, and delight in grow- 
ing. Nobody planted them, no one can tell 
how they came there, and yet there they are 
in the warm days of August, all black and 
blue with their fruit, as they seem to hug 
up to the fences, and lift their rich bunches 
into the light, as much as to say, " Here we 
are, though nobody planted us." 

We do not stop to consider what weeds 
are. Weeds are flowers out of place. Some 
of the best drugs in the world, and some of 
the most useful medicines, are extracted or 
taken out from weeds. For instance, there 
is the medicine known as Colchicum, which 
is used for gout and rheumatism. It is taken 
out of the meadow saffron; and the famous 
medicine, Digitalis, which is used a great 
deal when people have heart trouble, is ex- 
tracted from the showy flowers of the fox- 
glove. People do not plant weeds; they 
seem to grow of themselves. These weeds 
are very useful in their way, for they are 



278 The Palace Beautiful. 

made into drugs. But many drugs are poi- 
sons ; and unless we know how to use them, 
there is great "danger in our trifling with 
them. 

"Well, my dear children, God has written 
it in our lives, and in this world of ours, 
where we are struggling together against 
sin and temptation, that our souls must 
yield some fruit, and that if we do not have 
good habits, and sound principles, as the fruit 
of our garden, then depend upon it, thorns, 
and briars, and weeds will be there. 

IV. 

Fourthly, we learn from this subject, that 
results can not he hidden. 

It all comes out at the last, whether we 
have kept our gardens well, or whether 
we have been negligent. If we have been 
up early in the mornings, and have looked 
after our vineyards, and seen whether the 
vines were flourishing, this will all tell in 
the long run; but if we have neglected our 
gardens, the weeds that will be there, and 



Early Planting. 279 

the great rank, overgrown grass, will tell the 
story of our neglect. 

One of the surest ways in which we can 
tell whether a town is an active place, or is 
a deserted village, is by watching whether 
the grass grows over the stones, or whether 
the road is trodden down in the village. I 
remember to this day, when I was in the 
city of Modena, in Italy, that the cobble- 
stones were all overgrown with grass, so 
that they could scarcely be seen. This told 
the story that it is a deserted city. Who- 
ever saw any grass in the streets of London, 
or New York, or Paris ? There is too much 
going on, to give the grass a moment's time 
to grow. The grass-grown streets, tell the 
story of the deserted city; the hard worn 
pavements tell the story of the busy place. 
And it is in this same way in our lives. Ke- 
sults can not be hidden from the sight of 
our fellowmen, and from God. What we 
are, people know: and God sees us, not as 
we see ourselves, but as we really are. We 
forget about ourselves. St. James says, "If 



280 The Palace Beautiful. 

any man be a hearer of the word, and not a 
doer, he is like unto a man beholding his 
natural face in a glass, for he beholdeth 
himself, and goeth his way, and straight- 
way forgetteth what manner of man he was." 

There were two boys once, who went to 
the country for the summer. Their father 
gave them each a plot of ground, which 
they were to till and sow and care for. 
They had their tools, their trowels and their 
rakes, and a little plough, which their father 
had made for them, which they used to har- 
ness to their pony. When they got their 
ground all ready, their father said to them, 
" Now, Tom and Bob, 1 want to tell you that 
there is a strange, mysterious judge, who 
will condemn or approve your actions, and 
at the end of the season, though you can not 
see him, this invisible judge will tell me 
whether you have been faithful to the work, 
which I have given you to do in your gar- 
dens. The boys wondered who the judge 
could be. 

"Who could it be?" said Tom. 



Early Planting. 281 

"I am sure I don't know," replied Bob. 

"However," replied his brother, "let us 
wait and see." 

At last, when the fall came, their father 
went out with them to look at their gardens. 
Tom's garden was in beautiful order; the 
weeds were pulled up, and the path was 
straight, and the flowers were blooming, 
while Bob's garden was one mass of green. 
You could not tell which were the flowers 
and which were the weeds, or which was 
the garden bed and which was the path, and 
there were great tall corn-stalks, here and 
there all through the plot. 

"There," said their father, "I told you. the 
judge would make it all right at the last, 
and tell me who had been the faithful gar- 
dener, and who had neglected his work. 
There is the verdict. Tom's jury has settled 
the case for him, and Bob's jury (that is the 
plants) have condemned him." 

The plants which those boys had in their 
garden, their father had called the judge and 
the jury. They decided which of the gar- 



282 The Palace Beautiful. 

deners had done his work well, and which 
had forgotten it. And so, my dear children, 
with us in our soul-gardening, in the forma- 
tion of our own habits, we can not hide 
results. 

When Pilate was in an angry mood, after 
the chief priests had come to him and said, 
" Write not, The King of the Jews, but that 
he said, I am the King of the Jews," he an- 
swered them by saying, " What I have writ- 
ten, I have written." 

He meant by this simply that he knew 
what he was doing; but these words really 
tell us what was the whole truth of the 
matter — that Pilate's work could not be 
hidden; what he had done, had been done, 
and nothing could change it now. It was 
the confession of his own guilt, which he had 
nailed above the cross of Jesus, when he 
uttered these words. 

My dear children, what we do in life — the 
habits which we form, the principles which 
we make, the way in which we learn to live, 
— all of these results can not be hidden from 



Early Planting. 283 

the view of our fellowmen and of God. Now 
I want you to remember these four lessons 
from this subject of early planting. 

1st. Morning is the time for looking after our 
garden. 

2nd. The same sun which makes flowers makes 
weeds. 

3d. If fruit does not appear, there come 
thorns and briars. 

•4th. Results can not be hidden. 

So then, while you are young, do not be 
afraid to get up early, and look after your 
faults. 

" Let us get up early to the vineyards, let 
us see if the vine flourish, whether the ten- 
der grape appear, and the pomegranates bud 
forth." 



XIII. 

Cjje ^eating peart. 



THE BEATING HEART, 

"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are 
the issues of life."— Pbov. iv. 23. 

C^fVHEN students of medicine first begin 
^A^v their studies, they go into rooms 
where they operate upon certain animals. 
These poor little captives, mostly frogs and 
rabbits, are cut and treated as if they had 
broken legs, and all manner of diseases. 
This has always seemed a very cruel thing, 
but nowadays they give these animals ether 
or chloroform, so they do not know what is 
going on. I can remember, in one of the 
rooms in the university at Pennsylvania, 
where the medical students used to listen 
to the lectures by their professors, seeing a 
row of big green frogs, with their breasts 
cut open, just like a gentleman's vest. The 
students would then be called upon to look 



288 The Palace Beautiful. 

at the working of the hearts of these frogs, 
and we could see the blood coming in and 
going out of the heart, which was working 
away, like a water-ram pumping water. 
These poor frogs were treated in this way, 
on purpose to show the students how it is, 
that the beating heart supplies the entire 
system with life-giving blood. Now we do 
not stop to think of this machinery, as it is 
going on within us, all the time. Our heart 
beats, our lungs expand, our muscles con- 
tract, and all this is done, if we are in 
health, without our knowing any thing about 
it. We never know we have a head, until 
it begins to ache, or that we have a heart, 
until it begins to flutter, just as when we 
are travelling in the night, we never know 
that we are travelling, until the train stops, 
or the whistle is blown. The life of man 
is in the blood, just as the strength of the 
tree is in the sap. When a tree is dying, 
it is because the circulation of the sap does 
not reach every portion of the tree. Trees 
begin to die from the head downward, and 



The Beating Heart. 289 

just what the sap is to the tree, the blood 
is to the body. Health is found in the cir- 
culation of the blood. If we do not exercise 
enough, we can not be well, for then the 
beating heart, which should be prompt and 
active, is dull and sluggish in its action. 

2 Keep thy heart with all diligence, for 
out of it are the issues of life," is the motto 
which we might have placed over our play- 
rooms, and gymnasium grounds, for it tells 
us that unless the heart is strong and active, 
we can not have the blessing of sound 
health. 

Now, my dear children, just what the 
blood is to the body, in the circulation of 
health, character is in the soul. The soul 
must influence the body, for good, or for 
evil. Strong souls always rule. The strong- 
est characters inevitably bear sway: and so 
it comes to pass, that just as our life is in 
the blood, and the blood depends upon the 
beating heart, so our character is in the 
soul, and the soul makes us what we are. 
There are diseases and temptations of the 



290 The Palace Beautiful. 

soul, just as there are diseases of the heart. 
There is such a thing as taint in the blood, 
so that the diseases of our ancestors may 
be found in us, as an inheritance. One per- 
son may show a disposition to a certain form 
of disease, which has run in the family for 
years. Another person may show a dispo- 
sition to a moral weakness, and this same 
imperfection may be traced back to his an- 
cestors. And thus, what the heart is to the 
body, the soul is to the character, so that 
we can say, "Keep thy heart, or keep thy 
soul, with all diligence, for out of it are the 
issues of life." 

Our subject to-day is, The Beating Heart, 
and what it teaches us. I want to speak of 
three lessons. 



1st. We are to guard ivhat comes into the 
soul. You know we have to be very care- 
ful what we let come into the body. A very 
little poison taken by mistake for a very lit- 



The Beating Heart. 291 

tie water, will cause the heart to beat and 
palpitate in a terrible way, and perhaps may 
cause death. 

I know a certain doctor in Brookline, who 
is very fond of experimenting with poison. 
He gets all the poor dogs he can find, which 
are collected by the dog-officer, from the 
town, and then takes them into his barn, 
and tries the effect of different poisons upon 
them. This doctor has become a great au- 
thority upon poisons. But only think of the 
graves of the poor dogs that must be in his 
garden. He must have a regular dog ceme- 
tery. I went to find this doctor once, and 
discovered him in his barn, treating a forlorn- 
looking dog, to a stick of prussic acid. The 
dog thought it was a stick of candy and 
gulped it down, and was dead in four min- 
utes. Now if that dog had only known the 
nature of that piece of candy, as he thought 
it was, he would have been very careful 
about letting it get into his system. 

And, my dear children, there are poisons 
which kill the soul, just as there are poi- 



292 The Palace Beautiful. 

sons which kill the body. There are evil 
habits which, if we allow them once to get 
possession of our character, will destroy our 
moral life. 

In Mariposa, California, there lived a large- 
eyed, beautiful prattler, Mary Cameron. One 
evening when all were silent, she looked 
anxiously into the face of her back-sliding 
father, who had ceased to pray in his fam- 
ily, and said, 

44 Pa, is God dead?" 

" No, my child, why do you ask that?" 

"Why, pa, you never talk to him now 
as you used to do." These words haunted 
him until he reclaimed. 

We all remember the story of Alibaba and 
the forty thieves, and how the robbers were 
carried to the house, in great water jars. 
Nobody suspected that each jar contained a 
robber, until Morgiana, the slave girl, found 
that instead of bringing water into the house, 
these jars contained the dreadful thieves of 
the forest. And so there are robber habits 
which take possession of our souls, — anger, 



The Beating Heart. 293 

pride, and revenge, and selfishness try to 
force their way into our characters, as Ali- 
baba's robbers were smuggled into the house, 
so that we have to remember continually this 
motto of our text, " Keep thy heart with all 
diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." 

Let me tell you another story. 

Two country boys came at an early hour to 
a market town, and, arranging their little 
stands, sat down to wait for customers. One 
was furnished with fruits and vegetables of 
the boy's own raising, and the other supplied 
with clams and fish. The market hours passed 
along, and each little merchant saw with pleas- 
ure his store steadily decreasing, and an equiv- 
alent in silver bits shining in his little money 
cup. The last melon lay on Harry's stand, 
when a gentleman came by, and placing his 
hand upon it, said, " What a fine large mel- 
on! What do you ask for it, my boy?" 

"The melon is the last I have, sir; and 
though it looks very fair, there is an un- 
sound spot in it," said the boy, turning it 
over. 



294 The Palace Beautiful. 

"So there is," said the man; "I think I 
will not take it. But," he added, looking 
into the boy's fine open countenance, "is it 
very business-like to point out the defects in 
your fruit to customers ? " 

"It is better than being dishonest, sir," 
said the boy, modestly. 

"You are right, little fellow; always re- 
member that principle, and you will find fa- 
vor with God, and with man also; I shall 
remember your little stand in future. Are 
those clams fresh ? " he continued, turning 
to Ben Wilson's stand. 

"Yes, sir; fresh this morning. I caught 
them myself," was the reply; and a purchase 
being made, the gentleman went away. 

" Harry, what a fool you were to show the 
gentleman that spot in the melon? Now, 
you can take it home for your pains, or throw 
it away. How much wiser is he about those 
clams I caught yesterday? Sold them for the 
same price as I did the fresh ones. He would 
never have looked at the melon until he had 
gone away." 



The Beating Heart. 295 

"Ben, I would not tell a lie, or act one 
either, for twice what I have earned this 
morning. Besides I shall be better off in 
the end, for I have gained a customer, and 
you have lost one." 

And so it proved: for the next day the 
gentleman bought nearly all his fruits and 
vegetables of Harry, but never spent another 
penny at the stand of his neighbor. Thus 
the season passed; the gentleman, finding he 
could always get a good article of Harry, 
constantly patronized him, and sometimes* 
talked with him a few moments about his 
future prospects. To become a merchant was 
Harry's great ambition : and when the winter 
came on, the gentleman, wanting a trusty 
boy for his warehouse, decided on giving the 
place to Harry. Steadily and surely he ad- 
vanced in the confidence of his employer, 
until, having passed through various posts 
of service, he became at length an honored 
partner in the firm. 

Now the soul of one of these boys was 
well guarded. He was keeping his heart 



296 The Palace Beautiful. 

with all diligence, and out of it came the 
issues of life. 

The other boy did not guard what came 
into his soul, and lies and deceits came out 
of it. And we know that sin, when it is 
finished, or has run its course, always brings 
forth death. 

II. 

Secondly: We are to guard ivhat lodges in 
the soul. There is a very funny story in the 
second part of " Pilgrim's Progress/' about 
Matthew the son of Christianna. This boy 
was taken very ill, and no one could tell, 
what was the matter with him; at last the 
doctor, Doctor Skill by name, said, at the 
Palace Beautiful, that he had been eating 
something that disagreed with him. Mat- 
thew did not know what he could have 
been taking, that made him so ill, nor could 
any of the party find out the cause of his 
sickness. At last it was discovered that a 
long time before he had eaten a green apple, 
or some green plums, out of the devil's or- 



The Beating Heart. 297 

chard, and that it was this old fruit of the 
devil's, which had caused him all this suffer- 
ing. 

Well, now, my dear children, there are a 
great many of us, who are suffering in our 
characters, from some sin or bad habit, which 
we have received into our system while trav- 
elling on the devil's ground. Anger is one 
of these green apples, selfishness is another, 
jealousy and revenge are miserable little crab- 
apples which, if we cherish them, will be sure 
to give us pain and suffering in the end. 

You know there is an old fable of Esop's 
about a woodman and a cold snake. The 
woodman was out collecting fagots, to keep 
him warm in his hut, when he found a poor 
cold, and famishing snake, who begged that 
he might be taken home, to the poor forest- 
er's house, and be made warm. The kind- 
hearted peasant took the famished serpent 
in his arms and carried him to his home; 
but when the snake was once nicely warmed, 
he turned upon his benefactor, and stung 
him, and drove him out of his house. 



298 The Palace Beautiful. 

Children, beware of these cold snakes in 
your soul. The snake jealousy, the snake 
hatred, the snake pride, which now may 
seem cold and harmless, will perhaps be 
one day warmed up into stinging vipers, if 
you let them lodge in your hearts. 

III. 

Thirdly: We must guard what comes out of 
the soul We may think sin to ourself, and 
dream about it and brood over it, but it is 
only guilt in the eyes of the law, when 
the sin which we have been thinking about, 
is turned into an open act. A man may 
covet his neighbor's goods, and that would 
be sin against his neighbor, and against 
God. But human law only recognizes that 
as sin which is openly committed. If this 
man who has been coveting his neighbor's 
goods should steal them, then the law would 
step in, and punish him for his crime. In 
the same way, a man may have murderous 
thoughts in his heart, but he only commits 
murder in the sight of the law, when he 



The Beating Heart. 299 

actually kills his fellow-man. This is the 
difference between man's idea of sin and 
God's idea, for we read in the Bible, "that 
man looks upon the outward appearance, 
but the Lord looketh upon the heart." Oh, 
how many are the sinners in the world, 
who would give all that they ever pos- 
sessed as they are serving out their time 
in jails and penitentiaries, if they had only 
broken off the sin that was lodged in their 
heart, before it came actually out of their 
heart, and had become a crime in the sight 
of the law. 

Let me tell you one story more to show 
how strong we can become after we have 
been guarding our hearts with all diligence, 
and have been able to keep the flood gates 
down, so as not to let any sin get out. 

Some boys were playing in the old school- 
ground one Saturday afternoon. 

" Harry Hillard, you're the very boy we 
want ! " exclaimed Arthur Brown, going eag- 
erly towards his schoolmate. It was vaca- 
tion, and those boys who had not left town 



300 The Palace Beautiful. 

met every afternoon in the Academy " cam- 
pus " to play base-ball. 

"All right!" said Henry, "what do you 
want, old fellow ? " 

"A party of us are going to Eden Eock, 
to-morrow, to spend the day; we're to take 
Uncle Fred's boat and row there, carry our 
dinner, and have a good time in the woods, 
getting home by sunset ! " 

"Arthur! you don't mean to-morrow; to- 
morrow is Sunday ! What are you think- 
ing of? I'll join you on Monday with 
pleasure." 

"No, Harry, I mean to-morrow. I know 
it's Sunday. We won't do any thing wrong. 
Where's the harm in quietly taking a boat, 
and quietly rowing over a beautiful river, 
and staying all day in a grand forest ? Why, 
'the groves were God's first temples!'" said 
Arthur, striking an attitude, and looking tri- 
umphant. 

"And breaking the fourth commandment: 
4 Eemember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, 
is what God says. I shall have nothing 



The Beating Heart. 301 

whatever to do with the affair. Arthur, my 
boy, give it up. Mr. Ashton will expect 
you in Sunday-school. Frank, Duncan, Jack 
Smith, let's all be in our places to-morrow 
at Sunday-school, and go on our excursion 
on Monday. " 

"Harry Hillard is afraid to go. His fa- 
ther " — began Arthur Brown, using the com- 
mon argument which so often tempts boys 
away from what is right ! 

" I am afraid to go ! " returned Harry with 
emphasis. " Father would not approve of it. 
My heavenly Father would be angry, too ! 
It would not be right." 

"There's no use in persuading Harry," said 
Frank Freehold, "when he says 4 It would 
not be right,' he's like a rock. And there'd 
be no fun without him." 

11 It's a wicked thing anyhow ! " said Jack 
Smith. "We'll wait until Monday." 

Now, my dear children, it is wonderful 
how one decided act clears the way for a 
Christian. Harry's manly standing up for 
Sabbath-keeping made his way easier for 



302 The Palace Beautiful. 

many a week day, and he gained an influ- 
ence over his companions which was worth 
more than gold. Sunday-school boys, watch 
for opportunities, and never be afraid to 
speak a bold word, God helping you, for 
the right, and when you conscientiously say 
of any thing, " It would not be right," stand 
there, as if your feet were planted on a rock. 
Don't forget this lesson. Guard what 
comes out of your heart, for u out of the 
abundance of the heart, the mouth speak- 
eth." 

Kemember then, the lessons which I have 
been giving you to-day about The Beating 
Heart. 

Learn to guard what comes in the heart 
Learn to guard what lodges there. 
Learn to guard what comes out of the heart 
And remember this text of ours to-day, 
and let it be the motto of your life, " Keep 
thy heart with all diligence, for out of it 
are the issues of life." 



XIV. 

xaitn Hans. 




BROKEN PLANS. 

"Some on boards and some on broken pieces of the 
ship." — Acts xxvii. 44. 

j y E always like to come upon the wreck 
of a vessel, on the beach. We like 
to walk around it, and think of it, and go 
into it, .and try and imagine what the ves- 
sel must have been like. Just think, for 
a moment, of the tragedy a wreck always 
suggests. We think of the surprise, and 
the excitement, in the moment of the storm; 
the bewilderment of all on board, the plung- 
ing vessel, and the dashing waves; the ter- 
rible shock, and all the surrounding circum- 
stances of peril in the hour of disaster. 

Those of you, who have read the story 
of Robinson Crusoe, will remember the thrill- 
ing way in which he describes his entrance 
into the vessel, that had been wrecked upon 
his island ; how he found there the scattered 



306 The Palace Beautiful. 

fragments of the cargo, and the bones of the 
wrecked sailors, and rescued the only liv- 
ing thing on board, which was a barking 
dog. 

There is a song, which some of you may 
have heard, called the " Song of the Diver." 
It describes the feelings of the diver as he 
is in his submarine dress, walking about 
among the ruins of the vessel, on the bot- 
tom of the sea. It makes us think of Jules 
Verne's book, "Twenty Thousand Leagues 
under the Sea," and all that he imagined 
was to be found there. 

A wreck, then, always makes us thought- 
ful, in some way. It makes us think of 
the past history of the ship, and all that 
is contained in it; for ships never were 
made to be wrecked, and dashed to pieces 
on the sand, or the rocky coast. We think 
of the way in which the ship was built, in 
the shipyard; we think of the launch, and 
the christening of the ship's figurehead, which 
is something that always takes place at a 
launch. Then we think of the furnishing 



Broken Plans. 307 

of the ship; the putting in of her masts 
and spars, and her starting out on her first 
voyage. A wrecked ship always brings to 
our minds, the thought of the unforeseen 
dangers, which may be about us, all in 
life; for a ship on the beach stranded high 
and dry is, after all, but a picture of a 
great many people who started out fairly, 
and then struck upon some rock or shoal, 
— some bad habit, or sin, — and were never 
heard of again. 

Some years ago, a beautiful ship was built 
here, in Boston, and was called, the " Cham- 
plain." She w r as built in one of the dock- 
yards in East Boston, and at the time of 
her launch there were a great many peo- 
ple gathered to witness her marriage to the 
sea. At last, when she was finished, she 
sailed out of Boston harbor, and a company 
of friends went down with the gentleman, 
who had been most active in building the 
ship, and was known as the husband of the 
vessel, to see her set sail. We bid her 
good-by, down by Boston light, and as we 



308 The Palace Beautiful. 

came back in the tug, we saw the splendid 
vessel setting out for the unknown sea and 
the unknown future, the golden sun of the 
afternoon striking on her new bright can- 
vass sail. It was a splendid sight to see 
her sailing out towards her future. It all 
looked bright and golden. But she never 
came back again. She was lost on her first 
voyage, and went to pieces in a storm on 
the coast of California. 

Wrecks, then, always make us sad, be- 
cause they contrast the vessel's untimely 
fate with her bright beginning. 

Now, in the words of our text to-day, we 
have a description of St. Paul's shipwreck. 
In the great grain ship in which St. Paul 
sailed for Italy, there were two hundred 
and seventy-six souls, counting the soldiers, 
the sailors, and the passengers. You can 
read for yourselves, in the twenty-seventh 
chapter of the Book of the Acts of the 
Apostles, the thrilling story of the wreck 
of this grain ship. After they had tried to 
gave the ship in every way, and she had 



Broken Plans. 309 

at last run aground, the soldiers' advice 
was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them 
should swim out and escape to land; but 
the Eoman centurion wanted to save St. 
Paul, and told them, in reply, they must 
not do any thing so cruel as this. Then, 
when the vessel was fast going to pieces, 
and the great seas were breaking over the 
stern, while the bow was stuck fast in the 
shoal, the centurion commanded all on board 
to throw themselves into the sea, and try 
to get to land, in the best way they could. 
Some could swim, and these struck out for 
themselves. Some could not swim, without 
help, and these held on to the floating 
planks, and broken pieces of the ship, and 
" so it came to pass that they escaped all 
safe to land," that is to the Island of Melita, 
Now, my dear children, our plans, and 
purposes, and ways of living, in this world, 
are like ships, in which we sail. We live in 
our plans, and habits, just as snails live in 
their shells. The little nautilus, that floats 
over the water, comes out of his shell, and is 



310 The Palace Beautiful. 

blown along by the breeze ; but he does not 
more completely sail, in his little ship, than 
do we sail along, through this life, in our 
plans. Break up a man's plans, and habits, 
and it is like making shipwreck of his future. 
Sometimes we may have fair weather, and 
sometimes we may have storms. We can not 
tell what our future is to be, but we ought 
to be prepared for the worst. When our 
plans in this life break, like the ship that 
goes to pieces, we can do one of three things, 
and this is what I want to talk to you about 
to-day. 

Broken Plans; this is our subject. What 
can we do when the ship goes to pieces ? 

I. 

First, We can strike out for ourselves. It is 
a great thing to learn how to dive, and swim, 
and be able to strike out for one's self. Some 
boys are always frightened, if they know they 
are over their heads in the water, and, if they 
can not feel the bottom with their feet. And 
it is a hard thing in the world, and not only 



Broken Plans. 311 

in the mill-pond, to be out over our heads for 
a long time. We soon get exhausted. Even 
the strongest, and the bravest, who strike out 
for themselves, when difficulties come upon 
them, grow very tired after a while, of being 
out in the deep sea. 

Now, in St. Paul's shipwrecked vessel, I 
suppose the sailors could swim, but not the 
Roman soldiers. So, then, when the centu- 
rion told them, that they must desert the 
ship, and throw themselves into the sea, 
those that were able to swim began to 
strike out for themselves, and made for the 
shore. Think of all those round Roman 
heads in the water, fighting their way 
through the breakers! What a picture it 
is of self-reliance. 

Now, self-reliance is a very wonderful qual- 
ity. It is a great thing to feel strong enough 
for one's work. When Jesus said, to James 
and John, u Are ye able to drink of my cup, 
and be baptized of my baptism ? " they fell 
back upon their own self-reliance, and said, 
"We are able. ,, 



312 The Palace Beautiful. 

When God calls any of us to do hard work 
for him — work that is strange and unfamiliar 
to us — it is a great thing, to be able to strike 
out for ourselves, and not to depend upon 
others. I have seen young missionaries leav- 
ing their friends, and homes, and going out 
to foreign lands, to do God's work, in a way 
that, has been brave, and strong, and full of 
inspiration. These are the people who can 
strike out for themselves. These are like 
boys who can swim where it is over their 
heads. I have seen girls, in a family, who 
have had luxuries and comforts in the past, 
when trouble has come upon them, and their 
parents have died, and their property had all 
vanished, striking out for themselves in a 
wonderfully helpful way. I have seen set- 
tlers in the West, who years before, had 
bought lots in these Western towns, as these 
lots appeared on the paper plans of those 
who had sold them, waiting for the world 
to come out to them, as they had been the 
pioneers of civilization. Very often, here in 
Boston, I have watched the hotel coaches, 



Broken Plans. 313 

conducting emigrants from the docks at East 
Boston, to the railroad depots for the West. 
I have watched the strange and tired faces 
of those poor people, from the north of 
Europe. Every thing has seemed strange 
and new to them. The sights, and the 
sounds, the language, and the manners of 
living, here in the new world, all seem to 
bewilder them, so that they look like pil- 
grims, and strangers upon earth, or like the 
pilgrims at Vanity Fair; and it is just be- 
cause these very emigrants are brave, and 
full of self-reliance, that they are striking 
out for themselves in this way, when their 
prospects have been broken in the old world. 
Now, my dear children, when our plans 
break, and trouble comes upon us, and our 
hopes go to pieces, and are shipwrecked, first 
of all let us remember that we can do what 
a portion of St. Paul's company did, when 
they had their shipAvreck, on the Island of 
Melita, we can learn to strike out for our- 
selves. 



314 The Palace Beautiful. 

II. 

Second, when our plans go to pieces, we 
can cling to that portion of them which will float 
Some time ago there were three American 
boys in a Mediterranean steamer. They were 
coming up from Naples to Genoa. In the 
night, the Italian steamer, in which they had 
embarked, was run into by a ship off the 
coast of the Island of Elba. It was a dark 
and stormy night, and it seemed as if the 
steamer must go down. There were about 
two hundred Italian soldiers on board. These 
men quietly took possession of the life-boats 
so that when the vessel should sink, they at 
least could float. It seemed very much like 
the shipwreck of St. Paul. About three o'clock 
in the morning, when the crash came, and 
the steamer was run into by the unknown 
bark, these boys hurried up on deck. It was 
a wild, dark, and terrible scene. The wind 
was howling, the waves were dashing, the 
sailors were calling to each other in a foreign 
tongue. The Italian soldiers were comforta- 



Broken Plans. 315 

bly seated in the boats, with their loaded 
muskets in their hands, and there seemed to 
be no way of escape. Finally, one of the boys 
went down into the cabin, and came up again 
with his bag. 

" What have you got there, Tom?" said his 
companion. 

"I have got my bag," replied Tom. 

" What do you want your bag for ? " asked 
his friend. 

" I want to save my coral, that I got in 
Naples," he replied. 

u Oh, Tom," said his friend, " this is no time 
to be thinking about saving your coral. You 
had better be thinking about saving your 
soul?" 

The coral was not worth thinking about 
— but the soul is always worthy of being 
saved. 

Well, my dear children, when we have 
unexpected troubles in this world, and all 
our plans go to pieces, we can do what 
the Eoman soldiers did, when they were not 
able to strike out for themselves. They did 



316 The Palace Beautiful. 

the next best thing to swimming. They got 
hold of boards, that is, something that would 
float, and they paddled themselves to shore 
on these. They were glad to throw away 
their heavy armor, and their swords, and 
helmets. What they wanted at this time 
was not metal, but wood; not something 
that would sink, and drag them down, but 
something that would float, and keep them 
above the waves. 

Don't forget this lesson. It is a great 
thing to be able to hold on to the habits 
and principles in this ^ world that will float 
us, and to let the things that will drag us 
down, go. 

There was a young doctor, once, who came 
into a town where there were a great many 
rich and a great many poor people. He 
wanted to have all his patients among the 
rich. He would not take the trouble to 
practice among the poor. At last his min- 
ister found out that he was in great distress. 
His wife had been almost starved, and they 
had literally nothing to eat. Yet that proud 



Broken Plans. 317 

young doctor was unwilling to go among 
the poor patients in the village, for fear 
that it would hurt him, in his reputation, 
and keep him from getting the patronage 
of the rich. He was clinging to that which 
would sink, and drag him down, instead of 
paddling along on that which would float, 
no matter how poor a board it might be. 

There is a very funny writer, who is often 
quoted in the newspapers, known as "Josh 
Billings." He says all sorts of funny things, 
and sometimes he is very happy in his way 
of putting things. One time he gave some 
advice to his son, and said to him, "Now, 
mi sun, first of all get edikashun. Get edika- 
shun, if you can, and then get kloathes ; but 
if you kan not get edikashun and kloathes, 
then get kloathes." 

What he meant by this was, that the 
clothes would carry him and make him ap- 
pear decent and respectable. The clothes 
would be like the boards that he could 
float on, until he could get money enough 
to procure for him an education. 



318 The Palace Beautiful. 

Dear children, never be above using boards 
in this world ; take any thing that will float, 
and will carry you along, and will help you 
to get through the waves in this world on to 
good firm ground, if it is only good and hon- 
est and right. If you can not buy books, bor- 
row them. If you can not have pretty things 
about you, as others do, enjoy those which 
others have. Don't be too proud to look at 
a broken board. This is to be like the So- 
man soldiers, who might have said, "No, 
I thank you, sir, if we can not swim, we 
won't use any helps at all." Let us cling to 
the things in this world that will float us 
through the world. Don't hold on to those 
things which will only drag you down. 
Broken boards saved these shipwrecked Eo- 
man soldiers. 

III. 

Thirdly, when our plans go to pieces, we 
can cling to part of our ship, if we can not 
have the ivhole of it 

I remember the story of an old man, 



Broken Plans. 319 

v though I will not vouch at all for the truth 
of it, who was suffering at a time of dread- 
ful famine, in the town where he lived. It 
was down in Kentucky. The people were 
dying of starvation, it was such a dreadful 
famine. At last the miseries of this poor 
old man were so great, that his neighbors 
thought, so the story goes, that they had 
better get him into their wagon, and take 
him out to the cemetery, and bury him, 
even though he was not dead yet. The 
old man was a lazy old fellow, and would 
rather do any thing in the world than work. 
When his neighbors came to tell him that 
they were going to take him to the grave- 
yard and bury him there, he consented to 
get into the wagon, and the party drove 
off to the burying-place. On their way they 
met a friend. 

"Who have you there?" said he. 

" Old Uncle Trotter," was the reply. 

"Uncle Trotter! Why what are you go- 
ing to do with Uncle Trotter ? " 

"Well, to tell the truth," they answered, 



320 The Palace Beautiful. 

"he is starving to death, and we have got 
nothing to give him; and the old man said 
we might as well bury him alive." 

"Oh, for shame!" exclaimed his friend. 
"This is horrible; this shall never be ! Why 
I'll send him two bushels of corn myself." 

At this the old man in the wagon put 
his head out through the back curtain, and 
called out in a drawling tone, 

"Neigh — bo — r — is — it she — 11 — ed?" 

"Oh, no," said his friend, "but you can 
soon shell it yourself." 

"Never mind then," said Uncle Trotter; 
"you can. drive on, boys." 

Now that was the story of a man who 
would have every thing his own way, or 
not have it at all. I don't believe the story 
myself. But still it is very much like a ship- 
wrecked man saying, "If I can't have the 
whole ship, I will not take any broken piece 
of it." 

One of the things we very soon find out 
in this life, is, that we can not do all that 
we want to do, and that we can not have 



Broken Plans. 321 

all that we desire. We build our great big 
plans, and then we can only live to see a part 
of them accomplished. We lay out a large 
scheme of work, and have not the strength 
to finish it. 

But, my dear children, don't let us give 
up trying for a part of our work, simply be- 
cause we can not accomplish all that is in 
our minds. David wanted, above every thing 
else, to build a temple for God, and God said 
to him, " Forasmuch as it was in thy heart 
to build an house for my name, thou didst 
well that it was in thy heart; notwith- 
standing thou shalt not build the house, 
but thy son . . . shall build the house 
for my name." — II Chron. vi. 8, 9. David's 
life was filled with broken plans, and dis- 
appointed desires, and yet he was a man 
who never was shipwrecked; for he always 
came to land on a broken piece of his plan, 
even if he could not save the whole of it. 
Let us learn to do what we can with a part 
of our cherished plans, even if we can not 
carry out all that we could desire. 



322 The Palace Beautiful. 

Thus I have spoken to you to-day about 
broken plans in life. They stand out like 
wrecks on the beach. There is always some- 
thing sad about them, and yet we must not 
sit down and despair oyer our broken hopes. 
Eemember these three lessons of our story 
to-day. 

When our plans go to pieces, we can — 

1st. Strike out for ourselves, 

2d. We can cling to that ivhich ivill float, and 

3d. We can save a part of our ship, even if 
we are not able to save the whole of it. 

As you grow from childhood into men 
and women, ask God to teach you, in every 
season of life, to learn the lesson of that 
season, and to help you to go out into life 
feeling self-reliant enough to strike out for 
yourself, or to throw yourself upon some- 
thing that will float, and to learn to save 
a portion of your plan, even if you can not 
have the whole of it 



A DREAM OF THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL. 



CHILDREN UNDERGROUND. 

"Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? 
or thirsty, and gave thee drink? "When saw we thee a 
stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto 
thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, 
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
unto me." — Matthew xxv. 37-40. 

u ^S ** true, mother," said little Elsie one 
(3> day, " that if you tell your dream be- 
fore breakfast, it will become true." 

" Why, my darling child," said her mother, 
"what makes you ask me such a question?" 
" Because," replied Elsie, " Bertha Browne 
at school to-day, said she dreamed that she 
was going to have a coral necklace, and she 
told her dream at the breakfast-table, to her 
father and mother, before she ate a mouthful 
of breakfast. Her brothers and sisters laughed 
at her, for supposing that dreams ever came 
true, because they were told before break- 



326 The Palace Beautiful. 

fast; but, sure enough, the next week, on 
the Christmas-tree, there was a box marked, 
4 For Bertha/ and inside of it, was the love- 
liest coral necklace, you ever saw. She wore 
it yesterday to school ; it was ever so pretty. 
Oh mother," continued Elsie, "is there any 
way to make dreams true ? Why don't God 
let ministers nowadays, tell people what their 
dreams mean, and make them come true, just 
as Joseph did to Pharaoh, or Daniel the proph- 
et did to King Nebu — something or other; 
I never can remember those long Bible names. 
I don't see what they had such long names 
for, they are so hard to spell!" 

" Do you mean the King of Babylon, Neb- 
uchadnezzar ? " asked her mother. 

"Yes, I mean him," replied little Elsie. 
"He was the man who had the dream, but 
Daniel was the man I should have loved most 
to see ! Oh mother, I do wish there were such 
prophets about now ! " 

" Why, my dear child," said Elsie's mother, 
" what makes you talk so ? What have you 
been dreaming about?" 



Children Underground. 327 

It was about five o'clock in the afternoon 
of a chill November day, and little Elsie was 
sitting in an easy chair, with her feet curled 
up under her. The fire was flickering upon 
the hearth, and her mother, who had been 
knitting by her side, was winding some yarn, 
which Elsie was holding across her hands. 
People love to tell their secrets to each other 
about that hour of the day, and little girls 
always get talking over their knitting. So 
Elsie told her mother this dream. It was 
so real to her, that it seemed as if it had 
actually taken place, yesterday. 

"It seemed to me," said Elsie, "as if I 
was in some beautiful place, like a park or 
garden, and there were plenty of flowers 
and birds, and waterfalls tumbling over the 
rocks. There were ever so many children, 
nicely dressed, with white clothes and pink 
and blue sashes. They were walking up 
and down, and had all sorts of playthings, 
— dolls, jumping-ropes, baby-carriages, and 
ever so many things, just like you find in a 
toy store. And then, mother, we had such 



328 The Palace Beautiful. 

good things to eat: cakes and meringues, 
and candy rabbits, and sour balls, lemonade, 
chicken sandwiches, popcorn and peanuts, 
and lots of good things, which I don't re- 
member." 

"Were you there with the children?" 
asked Elsie's mother, who was quite curi- 
ous to hear all of the dream. 

" Oh, yes, mother dear, I was one of the 
children: and I was just going off with 
another little girl, we were walking with 
our arms around each other's necks, and we 
were going to sit down and eat some jelly 
and ice cream, when the angel came and — " 

" What angel? " said her mother. 

" Why, that's what I can't make out," Elsie 
answered. " I never can make out those 
things in dreams. Every thing is so mixed 
up. I don't know whether this was a real 
angel from heaven, or only a beautiful lady, 
in white. She had a pearl necklace around 
her neck, and she seemed to glide right 
along over the ground, without walking. I 
don't remember whether she had wings or 



Children Underground. 329 

not. I don't think she had, or else I should 
have remembered them. Well, she asked us 
if we had seen the children under ground. 
I thought she meant the dead little children, 
in the churchyard, and I said, 4 No ; my moth- 
er will never let me play in the churchyard. ' 
Then the other little girl, began to cry, and 
wanted to go home, but the beautiful lady, 
or angel, I don't know which she was, said 
she didn't mean dead children, but little boys 
and girls, who couldn't get up into the sun- 
shiny gardens. They were down in a cave, 
and there were heavy black clouds around 
the cave, and they couldn't get out. So I 
said I would like to see them, and the beau- 
tiful angel took our hands, and led us away 
from the rest of the children, across the gar- 
den, to a large lake, where a beautiful little 
pearl boat with silver sails — something like 
the little thermometer boat in your room, 
mother, which Aunt Annie gave you — was 
waiting for us. We got in this lovely little 
boat, and the wind carried us right along to 
the opposite side of the lake, where there 



330 The Palace Beautiful. 

were many beautiful flowers and trees, so 
thick together that I could not see beyond 
them, but the angel walked right through 
them, and we followed. It seemed to me 
as if we entered a smoky tunnel or cave, 
where there was no sunshine. The beauti- 
ful lady, or angel, told me to look through 
a window, where there was a grating, and 
oh ! mother, what I saw there ! There were 
poor people; some were in prison locked up 
with chains, some were drunk, and some 
were little boys and girls, who were crying 
for food, and their mothers had none to give 
them, and there were dear little babies, who 
were trying to play with spools, and all the 
children looked so cold. There was a big 
sign up, marked in red letters, ' Underground 
Children.' I felt like crying when I saw 
them, and I said, ' I want to go home.' The 
beautiful lady, told us not to forget the poor 
little Underground Children, and I said I 
never could find them again, but the lady 
replied I could always find them, if I hunted 
for them; and then, mother, just as I gave 



Children Underground. 331 

a big sigh, I found myself awake, and I 
never got to eat my jelly-cake after all, or 
finish my play in the garden, and I don't 
know what became of the little girl. Now 
what does it all mean, mother? Don't you 
see why I wish there was a prophet Daniel 
nowadays, to tell me the meaning of my 
dream ? " 

Mrs. Hamilton, Elsie's mother, was very 
quiet for a few moments, as she watched 
her darling child's countenance, which was 
very sad, and the soft brown eyes were 
raised beseechingly, to implore her mother 
to explain this dream. 

" Why, Elsie, my darling, that was indeed 
a very strange dream. How came you to 
think of it? and what have you been read- 
ing lately ? " 

Elsie shook her brown curls, "I don't know, 
mother, unless it was something Miss Jackson 
told us, last Sunday in school. We were all 
telling what we hoped would be given to us 
at Christmas — and she said, when we had so 
many beautiful gifts, we ought to remember 



332 The Palace Beautiful. 

the poor little children, who lived in dark 
streets, and who never had any Christmas- 
tree or pretty presents. Then Miss Jackson 
told us how she had been to look after the 
poor, and repeated these verses about the 
'Underground Children.' Bessie Benton cop- 
ied them for me, and gave them to me at 
school yesterday. These are the words — 

We are little toilers, 

We are strangers here; 
We are little exiles 

From the realm of cheer. 
Though the world of gladness, 

May by some be found, 
We have nought but sadness — 

Children Underground. 

Flowers that bloom in beauty, 

Lambs that sport and play, 
Sunshine food and plenty, 

Come not in our way. 
Merry voices ringing 

May with joy abound; 
But to us they come not — 

Children tJnderground. 



Children Underground. 333 

Oh ye happy children, 

Sporting life away, 
Ye who live in sunshine 

All the live-long day, 
Ye whose better nature, 

God with light hath crowned, 
Pity us your playmates — 

Children Underground. 

Give us of your gladness, 

Smiles and tones of love; 
Words and deeds of kindness, 

Like to joys above; 
Pity us, oh children; 

Let us hear a sound — 
Footsteps coming to us — 

Children Underground ! 

As Elsie repeated these verses to her moth- 
er, she kept looking at the fire, where a huge 
oak log, was flickering away on the hearth. 
It seemed to her, that she could see her dream 
all over again; as if the lady in white, was 
in the flame, and the poor little "Under- 
ground Children " were down in a back cav- 
ern, hidden by the burnt ends of the old log. 



334 The Palace Beautiful. 

She could hear the nurse, upstairs, singing 
baby to sleep, and rocking the chair with 
such a measured motion, that Elsie herself, 
felt like going to sleep. She was thinking 
how glad she was after all, to have her own 
dear mother, and such a beautiful home, with 
so many pretty things about her. Elsie's 
father was very wealthy, and seldom came 
home at night, without bringing his little 
daughter a bright ribbon, doll or book, until 
old nurse scolded, and muttered something 
about "some little folks having more than 
was good for them, while she knew plenty 
of little children, who would be very glad to 
have some of the broken toys and faded rib- 
bons," but Elsie always forgot to ask where 
they lived. 

Mrs. Hamilton did not disturb Elsie's rev- 
erie, knowing it was better to let her little 
daughter, think her own thoughts, until she 
was ready to tell them. 

In a few moments Elsie continued, "Now, 
mother, I didn't tell you my dream before 
breakfast, because I was afraid it might come 



Children Underground. 335 

true. I should like to have it come true, as 
far as the garden party went, but then just 
suppose it should come true on the other 
side, and that I should become one of those 
poor Underground Children — in the dark 
cave ! " 

" Why, Elsie darling, you are superstitious 
and silly about telling your dream before 
breakfast," replied her mother. "Where did 
you get such an idea? There is no truth 
in it at all. Bertha Browne happened to 
tell her dream, about the coral necklace, 
before breakfast, and since it was just one 
week before Christmas, last year — of course 
her father and mother saw that she wanted 
one very much, and so they gave it to 
her. That is the way her dream came true. 
Now, let me think over your dream, about the 
Underground Children, and see if I will not 
be able to tell you what it means, just as 
well as if you had the prophet Daniel here. 
Kiss me, darling. Now run — there is your 
fathers step, and it is time for dinner." 

Elsie ran to open the door, and sure enough, 



336 The Palace Beautiful. 

there stood her father and her big Uncle John. 
They were laughing about a poor little boy, 
who wore his father's coat, and his panta- 
loons cut short, and had come into the office 
that morning, begging for bread. 

u He said he would 'tumble, 7 and go ' round 
and round' like a wheel," said Uncle John, 
"if they would only give him a few cents. 
He told them he lived in a dark cellar." — Elsie 
kept wondering if he was not one of these Un- 
derground Children, and while her uncle was 
laughing she could hardly keep the tears 
back; she wished she didn't know about 
these poor children. Her mother imagined 
what she was thinking about, and made up 
her mind, to help her little girl find out the 
true meaning of the dream, in a way which 
would bring joy out of it. Her father saw 
the sad little face, and supposed that Elsie 
was wondering why he had forgotten his 
usual present. 

"There, darling, don't look sad," he said, 
"here is something for you, and you will 
think it is the prettiest thing I have bought 



Children Underground. 337 

you this winter," and he laid very carefully 
before Elsie, a soft package of pink paper. It 
did not take the little fingers long to untie 
the soft cord, and after the white cotton was 
taken off, there lay the loveliest French doll, 
any little girl could imagine, — soft, light, 
curly hair, with bangs over the forehead, 
and sweet blue eyes. Besides, as it was a 
real Paris doll, it said pa-pa, ma-ma, and 
kicked up its little feet, and cried like a 
live baby, when it was laid upon its back. 

Elsie was so surprised and delighted, that 
she could not find words to express her joy. 
Eunning to her father she squeezed, and 
kissed him so violently, that one could 
hardly tell where his head had gone to, 
for one moment it was hidden in the folds 
of her white dress, and in another moment 
it was covered with a bright red sash, while 
a pair of little red feet danced up and down. 
Then kissing all good night, Elsie ran off to 
show nurse her Paris doll, and forgot all her 
troubles, about the Underground Children. 

After Elsie had gone upstairs, and long 



338 The Palace Beautiful. 

after the little girl was snugly tucked in 
bed, her father was listening to the wonder- 
ful dream, and before the lights were put 
out, it had been planned, that Mrs. Hamil- 
ton should call upon Miss Jackson, Elsie's 
Sunday-school teacher. Early the next morn- 
ing, when Elsie was at school, her mother 
drove to Miss Jackson's house, and told her 
all about Elsie's dream, and how worried 
the child was to find out its meaning. Miss 
Jackson smiled, and told Elsie's mother that 
on the previous Sunday, all the little girls 
in Miss Jackson's class had been talking 
about the presents they expected to receive 
at Christmas time, and that there was one 
little girl whose father was dead and whose 
mother was in a hospital, so she wasn't ex- 
pecting any thing but a very sad and lone- 
ly Christmas. Her name was Hetty Craig. 
She lived with a poor woman who had 
promised to take care of her while her moth- 
er was in the hospital. This poor woman 
lived in a cellar, and she told Miss Jackson 
when the teacher called there to see Hetty, 



Children Underground. 339 

that people who lived in cellars, and the 
Children Underground, never had any Christ- 
mas, and she felt so sorry for Hetty, be- 
cause the little girl always had a comfortable 
home above the ground, when her father was 
alive and her mother was well. 

Now Miss Jackson had told the girls in 
her class, all about poor Hetty, one Sunday 
when she was absent, also adding, "There 
are many poor children, who live in just such 
cellars underground, and who never know 
any thing about Christmas. Can't you do 
something for them ? " 

Then Miss Jackson read them the verses 
about the " Underground Children." The little 
girls were all very much interested, and Car- 
rie Lee said, she " never knew there were 
Underground Children living so near her, 
and she intended to ask grandpa to give 
her some money for them, only she didn't 
know exactly where to find the underground 
homes, or what presents they would like." 
Bessie Benton said, " I think I will buy 
them a Paris dolL" 



340 The Palace Beautiful. 

But Miss Jackson told them, she thought 
she knew what they would like, better than 
a Paris doll, and no one with the exception 
of Elsie could guess what could be better. 
She whispered in her teacher s ear, and what- 
ever it was, Miss Jackson smiled, and nod- 
ded her head. 

Mrs. Hamilton, Elsie's mother, had been 
very much interested in the story of poor 
Hetty, and the other children, and before 
she left, on the day of her visit, had given 
Miss Jackson thirty dollars, to spend for the 
Underground Children, begging her to ask 
for more, if she needed it. Miss Jackson 
was delighted, and the next Sunday, told 
the girls all about her plans. Then she 
asked them if they could give something 
from their own pocket money, or go with- 
out something for Christmas. She said she 
hoped they would be able to find the homes 
of some of these poor little unfortunates, and 
give them a bright, happy Christmas ! 

The girls listened attentively, and were 
very eager to do all they could. Each prom- 



Children Underground. 341 

ised to give something, and Bertha Browne 
went without a Cornelian bracelet, which her 
Uncle George had promised to give her two 
years before, but now he was willing to give 
her the money instead, to do what she pleased 
with it. Elsie Hamilton gave up a pair of 
pink satin slippers, which she had longed for, 
and Bessie Benton gave five dollars, which 
was the amount her father was going to give 
her for her own purse, at Christmas. Then 
Miss Jackson added some more money to 
the amount, so that altogether, this little 
class had over fifty dollars, to spend upon 
the poor children. Little Hetty was still 
absent, having taken a severe cold, while 
going on an errand one cold rainy day, and 
when Miss Jackson went to see her, she cried 
very hard, to think that now, she could not 
spend Christmas morning with the rest of 
the class at church, and hear the beautiful 
anthems. She said she was going to have 
a very sad Christmas, for her poor mother 
was worse, and the doctor in the hospital had 
written, that she could see no one, not even 



342 The Palace Beautiful. 

little Hetty. Miss Jackson kissed her, and 
tried to comfort her, by asking what she 
would like for Christmas, and then told 
her, that although her dear mother could 
not be with her, she had kind friends, who 
would not forget her And she left Hetty 
wondering who the kind friends were, and 
what Miss Jackson meant. 

It was now the week before Christmas, 
and Miss Jackson was kept very busy, go- 
ing out purchasing different articles every 
morning. Each girl in her class, with the 
exception of Hetty, received a little note, 
inviting her to take tea with Miss Jackson, 
two days before Christmas, as she wanted 
their assistance in marking and tying up 
the parcels, for the Underground Children, 
for their kind teacher had found out all the 
names of these poor children. 

The girls had a very merry time, and all 
agreed that the presents were lovely, and 
much better than Paris dolls, for children 
who had no shoes or stockings, or even 
beds, for Miss Jackson had been to each 



Children Underground. 343 

home, and knew just what the different fam- 
ilies needed. And then there were some 
dolls for the children, besides dresses, shoes, 
and stockings, blankets, and groceries. There 
were nice little plain dolls, they even had 
curly hair, and because they were going to 
live Underground, the girls dressed them in 
warm dresses, not in white tulle, or satin, 
but in bright red merino, and they had 
real shoes and stockings on their little feet. 

Elsie said, as she bade Miss Jackson good- 
by, " I never have had such a happy Christ- 
mas time," and I am sure all the girls thought 
the same, as they kissed Miss Jackson, and 
promised to be "all ready to-morrow. 1 ' 

The next morning saw nine anxious lit- 
tle faces, watching at their parlor win- 
dows, for some one, and before long, a 
large sleigh, drawn by two white horses, 
drew up in turn before the windows of the 
various houses, and out ran the owner of 
the anxious little face, so that by the time 
the ninth house had been reached, the sleigh 
was full, and could not possibly hold any 



344 The Palage Beautiful. 

one more. After them, came Miss Jackson, 
in a smaller sleigh, loaded with big bundles 
and toys. On they dashed, not caring one 
bit for the big snowflakes, which would fly 
into their faces, for they were well wrapped 
up. They had warm soap-stones at their 
feet, and were going to bring joy and 
sunshine into the cellars and underground 
homes, so they did not feel the cold at all. 
I have not space to tell you about all the 
homes they entered, or all the sad sights 
they saw; but let me tell you about one 
little girl, who had never heard about Christ- 
mas, or the dear Christ Child. She was about 
thirteen years old, and had never seen the 
sunlight. When a very little infant, her fa- 
ther — who was alwavs the best of fathers, 
when sober; but who was very cross when 
drunk — came home, one dark night, intox- 
icated, and seeing his little baby daughter 
asleep on the floor, picked her up, and 
threw her across the room. The poor baby 
was so injured that she never walked, and 
was lamed for life. Of course her father was 



Children Underground. 345 

very, very sorry, when he found how he had 
hurt the poor baby, and for a long time, 
tried to do better; but he could not make 
his little daughter well again, and for thir- 
teen long years, she had never seen the true 
sunlight, but lived down in this dark cel- 
lar, where the sun never came, day after 
day, picking the rags her father brought 
home. You can not imagine how delighted 
she was when Miss Jackson showed her the 
warm dress, and soft blankets, and placing 
a pretty doll in her lap, tried to make her 
understand that they were for her to keep. 
Then, after telling her about the infant 
Jesus, and the beautiful angels who brought 
the glad tidings, to the wondering shepherds, 
so many years ago, Miss Jackson, and the 
girls said, "Good-by, and a merry Christ- 
mas," for the morning was almost gone, 
and there were several more visits to be 
paid. Poor Hetty was delighted with her 
Christmas gifts: they were such a surprise 
to her ! There was a beautiful doll, a new 
dress, and a nice warm muff, which Miss 



346 The Palace Beautiful, 

Jackson said was to keep her little hands 
warm, when she went to Sunday-school, and 
then just as Elsie was saying, " Good-by, 
and a merry Christmas," she slipped into 
Hettys hand, a lovely, little picture book, 
whispering, U I meant to have given it to 
you anyhow." 

Poor little Hetty ! this was to be after all, 
one of the happiest Christmas Days she had 
ever spent! 

When Elsie arrived at her home, there were 
her father and mother waiting, at the door, 
watching for her, and her nurse stood at the 
head of the stairs exclaiming, "Well, Miss 
Elsie, I was afraid you had been upset in 
the snow ! Come right into the nursery, and 
get your supper." 

But her father said, "No, nurse, Elsie will 
have dinner with us, instead of supper in the 
nursery." 

And so our little Elsie spent a very happy 
evening telling her father and mother all she 
had seen. When she went to bed that night, 
she could not help thinking about her dream, 



Children Underground. 347 

of the good angel, of the children in the prison, 
and of the jelly-cake and candies she had left, 
never to be eaten, when the beautiful lady 
in white, asked her to go and see the Under- 
ground Children! Elsie wished she could 
have been a real Santa Glaus, just for that 
one night — he must have such fun, she 
thought! It seemed to her as if the nine 
little girls and Miss Jackson, had become 
God's angels. It was unlike any ride Elsie 
had ever taken. Then, too, her father had 
told her, that good kind Uncle John had 
given a present to each of the thirty chil- 
dren in the hospital, and Elsie was to go, 
after church on Christmas morning, to see 
them, and hear them sing. 

"Well, Elsie my dear," said her mother, 
as she kissed her darling child good night, 
"it wasn't so hard to interpret your dream 
after all, was it? Next time you must trust 
your mother, and not long for the prophet 
Daniel. " 

"Yes, mother," replied Elsie, "I know now 
who the Underground Children are, and just 



348 The Palace Beautiful. 

where to find them ; and I think Miss Jack- 
son must have been the beautiful lady, for 
she was all covered with snowflakes which 
made her look just like the beautiful angel in 
white." 

Her mother smiled, and told Elsie not to 
forget to hang up her own stocking. 

And this was the way Elsie's dream came 
true ! 



THE END. 



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